Great Grand Line High Troubles
by ScarletCherryBlossoms
Summary: Sanji is the new rich kid at school. Zoro is the number one delinquent from a poor family. What happens when Sanji is injured during a school brawl? What about when you stick them together to form the disciplinary club? ZoSan. AU. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: Sanji is the new rich kid at school. Zoro is the number one delinquent from a poor family. A lot happens around them normally, but what about when you stick them together to form the disciplinary club? ZoSan. AU. Rated M.**

Currently Zoro, Usopp, and Luffy were on the rooftop of their school _Great Grand Line High_. Sanji had just transferred into the school yesterday and already had the reputation of being a "Ladies' Man." The three delinquents were currently talking about all of the weird people they've seen and met in this school.

"Hey Zoro, have you seen the new kid yet?" Usopp asked from his spot on the floor.

"Nah, didn't bother." Zoro grumbled sleepily from against the door.

"Why not Zoro? I heard that he can cook some tasty meat!" Luffy began to drool at the thought of eating the rumored food.

"So you've all met him already?" Zoro raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Nope!" Both of the boys replied in unison.

"Then why the hell do I have to be the first one to meet him?" Zoro growled angrily.

"That's because you guys are about the same, from what I've heard." Usopp explained.

"What do you mean we're the same?" Zoro huffed in annoyance.

"There's a rumor that he beat some guys to a pulp. That he is short tempered and very easily agitated. Oh, and that he glares at anyone who insults him, food, or women." Usopp pointed out.

"That sounds nothing like me." Zoro grumbled before falling asleep.

"It sounds more like you than you want to realize." Luffy said seriously before doing a one-eighty and acting like an idiot as he ate a sandwich.

~~!~~

"Eeeeh!" Nami squealed in surprise.

"That's what I heard." Robin informed the navigator.

"So… Zoro and this new kid, Sanji, are alike?" Nami asked as insurance.

"Pretty much so, other than Cook-san being kinder to women and a bit friendlier than swordsman-san." Robin explained.

"I want to meet this 'Sanji' before Luffy does. Who knows how long it will take me to get to talk to him and pry if Luffy is constantly around him asking for food." Nami pondered lightly.

"He should be eating lunch in the classroom with all of the ladies right now." Robin pointed out.

"Great! Can you come with me in case I need some back-up?" Nami asked.

"Sure, I don't mind. I've been wanting to see what he's like myself." Robin accepted.

The two girls made their way down the hall to where the new kid was supposed to be located. They got there to find the classroom in an uproar. Apparently, a male student with pink hair started to harass one of the females again and Sanji snapped. He currently had his foot in the man's face and was sending some evil glares at the guy.

"He's more like Zoro than I thought." Nami paled at the sight before her.

"In a different way, but yes, he is." Robin smiled, obviously not bothered by the sight before her.

"Now apologize to the lady." Sanji snarled at the man under his foot.

"No." The guy stubbornly growled back and got the heel of Sanji's dress shoe pressed to his cheek.

"I'm not going to remove my foot until you apologize to the lady." Sanji said calmly before turning his attention back to the girl before him. "I'm sorry that you have to witness this dreadful scene. I'll make it up to you with some tea and cakes tomorrow as an apology."

"Now I see what you meant by him being different." Nami paled again.

"Ah! Mellorine~ I'm sorry that all of you beautiful ladies had to witness this. I'll bring cakes and tea for all of you." Sanji wiggled as he used a sing-song voice.

"You shouldn't take your attention off of your enemy." The man under Sanji's foot grabbed his ankle and twisted it in an odd direction.

Sanji only winced slightly at the pain before turning his body the same way as his foot with inhuman flexibility and stamping his other foot in the man's face angrily. The man let out a gurgle of surprise before going back to being quiet. Some of the guy's friends were watching from the hall with angry expressions. Something was going to be done about this.

"Now apologize to the lady for upsetting her precious lunch time." Sanji glared at the man who was close to surrendering.

"I'm sorry for disturbing your precious lunch time and bothering you." The guy finally submitted and starting to break out in tears as Sanji foot finally left his face.

"There… now was that so hard to do in the first place?" Sanji patted the guy's head like a dog before returning his attention back to the girls. "I'm sorry for taking up your eating time as well. Should we all have lunch now that this little charade is finally over?"

"Wow… he really is on a different scale than Zoro but they're still alike." Nami awed as the mood suddenly changed.

"See? I wonder what would happen if we got them to meet each other? Would it be an all-out war or would they work together?" Robin pondered.

"We, as the student council, will have to arrange that somehow. Just think of how much the bullying would die down if they would become the ultimate tag team and ruled over the school's discipline." Nami got a sly smile on her face.

"Now that would be something Navigator-san." Robin admitted.

~~!~~

The last school bell had rang and Zoro had been awoken from his afternoon nap. He wandered aimlessly down the hallways, not even bothering to think about where he was going because he knew that he'd get lost anyway. Meandering for almost an hour, Zoro finally got outside of building. There were scuffing noises coming from behind the school building that piqued the swordsman's interest. It was unusual that someone other than he would be fighting.

He peeked around the corner hesitantly to be almost smacked by a flying guy. The guy landed on the ground unconscious with blood coming out of his nose and mouth. Zoro peeked around once more to see a flash of blonde hair and the black dress clothes that boys of this school were forced to wear. Blood splattered on the ground as guy after guy hit the floor unconscious. Most of the guys were using steel poles and knives except for the blonde one that was being attacked. He only used his feet against his opponents.

Zoro was used to the way that most of the other delinquents fought against people stronger than they were. The blonde guy fighting must not have gotten the memo because he had blood dripping from cuts covering nearly every part of his body. His face and hands seemed to be the only part untouched. After the last guy had hit the floor, the blonde stood and picked his bag back up and started to walk towards the gate with a sigh like nothing happened.

"You shouldn't be snooping around in other people's business like that." The blonde stopped just before the corner to pull a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his breast pocket.

"I can't help it that it's not normal for people to be fighting here and I'm not in it." Zoro crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"That would make you what, the top delinquent?" There was the sound of a lighter being snapped on the tell-tale smell of nicotine in the air.

"What about it? You're here less than a week and already getting on a gang's hit list. That's better than what I had going my first week." Zoro gave a smug look as the blonde came around the corner and leaned against the wall beside him, a cigarette in his mouth.

"So I'm doing better than the notorious Roronoa Zoro? Looks like you did your homework though." Sanji smirked around his cigarette.

"My first week here was spent wandering the halls and sleeping in odd places. You don't cause trouble that way." Zoro shrugged.

"You were _LOST_?" Sanji snickered. "Dumb marimo can't find his way through the halls still?"

"So what?" Zoro snapped. "What the hell's a marimo anyway?"

"It's a rare kind of sea kelp… looks a lot like your hair." Sanji sneered.

"Who the hell you calling kelp, curly?" Zoro snarled back.

"What did you just call me?" Sanji tried hard to keep his calm.

"Curly… What about it? Don't like your name curly?" Zoro teased.

"Fucking marimo! You have no room to call me curly, kelpie!" Sanji swung a leg at Zoro only to have him block it and glare back before throwing a punch.

The two started fighting and soon got into a rhythm that was hard to slow or speed up. It wasn't until Sanji's one leg wobbled out and he went crashing to the ground that they remotely stopped. The sun was starting to set by now and the air was chilling slightly.

"Damn it…" Sanji muttered around a newly lit cigarette.

"What, couldn't take my hits?" Zoro teased.

"Fuck off… it's only because I was getting beat up earlier that I even fell. If I was in perfect condition, it would be you that would be on the ground right now." Sanji snarled as he tried to stand up only to have his knees give out again.

"Oi… are you even going to make it off the ground by tonight?" Zoro gave the blonde a skeptical look.

"I'm fine, so go find your little marimo family and leave me the hell alone." Sanji snapped as he managed to get onto his feet by leaning against the wall.

"My parents taught me not to leave defenseless curly-eyebrowed idiots on the ground and unable to get home." Zoro shrugged defensively.

"Shut up!" Sanji growled as he carefully shuffled away from the wall and started to make his way home with Zoro a few steps behind.

The two of them got almost a block away before Zoro's presence started to irritate the blonde. He kept looking back to see the green-haired male glaring at him angrily like he had done something wrong. Sanji kept on walking and trying to ignore him, but the cold shivers up his spine told him that the marimo was still there.

"Why the hell are you following me?" Sanji turned and snapped at the swordsman.

"I was wondering why the hell you were walking me home…" Zoro glared.

"What the hell do you mean walking you home? I live this way god dammit." Sanji growled defensively.

"Whatever… not like I give a shit where you live." Zoro grumbled as he took the lead and started to walk to his house.

The two males walked in silence until they came upon their houses. Surprisingly, they stood right next to each other at the front gate of one of the houses on the block. Both of them glared at each other menacingly like something was up with the other. Zeff and Koshiro both came out of the large house and called out to the boys.

"Sanji, meet the man who is allowing us to stay here, Koshiro." Zeff introduced.

"Zoro, this is Sanji's father Zeff. They'll be staying here for a while until we work something out." Koshiro introduced as well.

"Where the hell do you expect them to sleep?" Zoro snorted irritatedly.

"Well… Zeff will get to use the attic and Sanji will be sharing a room with you." Koshiro explained with a smile.

Zoro and Sanji paled and both said, "WHAT!?" in unison.

"Why the hell do I have to sleep in the same room as a _marimo_? He'll contaminate the air just being in an enclosed space!" Sanji whined.

"I'll contaminate the air? What about you and your smoking? Won't that cause all my clothes and stuff to smell like nicotine?" Zoro snarled back.

"I open _windows_ marimo! Ever heard of one?" Sanji growled back in response.

"You two seem to be getting along just fine! You'll do all right for about a month or two." Koshiro smiled.

"Getting along? This is not getting along… and a month? I have to deal with this moss head for a _month_?" Sanji snorted while digging his heel into Zoro's face angrily.

"A month or _more_. Depending on just how bad your situation is." Koshiro corrected.

"The beds are already in place and your clothes are in a box on your bed Sanji." Zeff said in a failed attempt to get the blonde's mind off of just how long they'll be at the house.

"Fine! I'm going to bed!" Sanji snarled as Zoro stood there with his arms crossed defiantly.

Sanji stomped up the stairs angrily towards where his and Zoro's bedroom is after a quick explanation of the house's layout from Zeff. He opened the door and quickly found his bed, putting the box and his bag on the floor and face planting into the pillow. Blood from his cuts started to leave small smears on his covers when he finally decided to go wash up in the connected bathroom. Zoro came in almost thirty minutes later with some bandages and rubbing alcohol.

"Koshiro was worried about you and told me to bring you this." Zoro threw the things at the back of Sanji's head only to get no response.

"Oi, you dead or something? Don't stink up my room with your rotting flesh." Zoro sauntered up to the blonde with a scowl.

He bent over to wave a hand in front of Sanji's face only to find him already asleep. The blonde was sleeping so silently that Zoro never even realized he was asleep until he got close enough. With a sigh, the swordsman wandered back over to his bed and climbed under his covers after setting his alarm for five o'clock in the morning. His usual waking time.

~~!~~

Zoro awoke to find Sanji missing from his bed. Without a care, the swordsman got out of bed and threw on some sweat pants and headed down stairs to grab a bite to eat and head out back to train. On his way down the steps, Zoro caught a whiff of something good cooking. He turned the corner to the kitchen to see the blonde in an apron and cooking while humming nonchalantly to himself. Zeff and Koshiro were nowhere in sight, so the swordsman took a seat at the table quietly.

"Ten more minutes and the fish in the oven should be done. Then you can eat." Sanji slid into the seat across the table, lighting a cigarette.

"Oi, don't smoke those in the kitchen. You'll make my food taste worse than it already is." Zoro grumbled with a stifled yawn.

"Che… you don't have taste buds to begin with marimo, so why do _I_ have to stop smoking?" Sanji smirked playfully. "My food doesn't taste _that _bad!"

"It probably tastes like shit." Zoro smirked back.

"It does not, or all the ladies wouldn't keep asking for more food every day." Sanji stood up from his seat and walked past Zoro, ruffling his hair on his way to the kitchen.

"The hell was that for shit-cook?" Zoro grumbled and yawned.

"Go back to sleep. This is why you're so directionally challenged and _never_ come to class. Did you know that you're failing and will end up staying in high school longer than me at this rate?" Sanji chided from the kitchen stove.

"Shuddup…" Zoro muttered sleepily before falling asleep on the table.

Sanji finished up making breakfast and some bentos for lunch. While he was making the tea and cakes for the ladies in his class, Koshiro meandered down the steps sleepily. He took a seat beside Zoro and ate the food that was set out for him. Sanji was in the middle of icing the small cakes when Zeff came down the steps and instantly started to criticize his food.

"Your fish isn't cut exactly to proportion, your cakes are too sweet, the tea hasn't been steeped to the strongest capacity, and you should have cooked your rice a tad bit longer." Zeff grumbled as Zoro finally woke up to notice the food placed at his face and Zeff's ranting.

"Stop complaining and just eat it old man! It's not like you could do any better with these ingredients and knives!" Sanji barked back.

"You're a hundred too years too early to try and better me eggplant!" Zeff bellowed angrily at the blonde, Zoro just missed hearing Sanji's nickname.

"Fuck off Zeff! I'm going to go get dressed." Sanji yelled on his way up the steps, throwing the apron in Zeff's face on the way.

"What was that all about?" Zoro asked as he downed the rest of his food.

"He actually cooked the food nicely, I was just pushing him to try harder and make it better by pulling out all the faults and telling him about it." Zeff explained as he dug into his fish.

"Oh, so like I do with my students at the dojo… when they do something right, I only tell them what they did wrong." Koshiro dug into his food as well.

Zoro sat there dumbfounded by the stuff he didn't understand. With a look at the clock, he noticed that he had about an hour before he _had_ to get ready. Just enough time to do a few weight lifts and sit ups. The swordsman sauntered out the door and into the back yard where he kept all his training equipment.

~~!~~

"Oi muscle head! You have five minutes before we have to go out the door! What the hell are you doing getting all sweaty before class?!" Sanji yelled out the window of their bedroom and down at the back yard.

"Shit!" Zoro cursed as he put down his weights and made a break for the bedroom to get changed and ready, already deciding to skip a quick shower.

Sanji stood in the doorway with a hand on his hip and the other up so he could check his watch for the time. He tapped it as Zoro ran past as a signal that he was running out of time. Zoro got changed at record time and whipped out the door before Sanji could hand him his bento box. With a sigh, the blonde walked after the swordsman on his way to the school.

~~!~~

The first bell had already rang when Zoro _finally_ got to the classroom for homeroom. He had gotten lost again but didn't dare to admit it. As he looked around for his seat, after shooting a few glares at the teacher, he noticed that Sanji's assigned seat was right next to his and he paled. Their teacher had started roll call and Zoro fell asleep again, only to be awoken with a sharp kick to the back of his leg.

"Roronoa Zoro…" The teacher called out hesitantly.

"Here…" Zoro grumbled out the moment his name was called, having already been awaken by a kick not long before the roll hit his name.

The whole class blinked in surprise that Zoro was, for once, in class and responsive at the time. Usually he slept through roll call or just didn't show up at all. Everyone knew he was in the school because there was usually some news of a fight breaking out during the school day that he was the center of. Zoro was kept within the classroom all morning by Sanji constantly kicking his shin when he tried to leave and kicking the back of his leg when he slept. By lunch, Zoro was _very_ ticked off at having been kept awake all morning and kicked several times.

"Oi, Zoro. Where are you going?" Sanji raised an eyebrow when the swordsman tried to take off during lunch break.

"Roof…" Zoro wasn't quite sure why he answered the blonde. It was probably out of habit to answer when someone asks a question.

"What about your bento?" Sanji asked, fully aware that the swordsman never got it off the counter.

"Shit… oh, well." Zoro mumbled to himself as he left the classroom and high tailed it to the roof.

"Hey Zoro, what took you so long to get up here?" Usopp asked.

"Stupid blonde wouldn't let me leave." Zoro mumbled before taking his spot in front of the door.

"So you finally met Sanji? Did he make you food? Was it yummy? Was there _MEAT_?!" Luffy bombarded the swordsman with questions.

"Yes I met him, yes I had some of his food, I wouldn't call it yummy, and no, there was NO meat." Zoro grumbled irritatedly.

"Aww… I want him to make me some MEAT!" Luffy's mouth started watering on as if on cue.

"Luffy, is that all you ever think of?" Usopp asked with a sweat drop.

"No, I think about other stuff too!" Luffy pouted defiantly.

"Like what exactly?" Zoro chimed in groggily.

"Well… I think of meat, my friends, my friends with meat, Na…, meat flavored ice cream, meat flavored soda, how seagulls might taste, …mi, and where my friends are." Luffy declared.

"I don't even want to know about the random 'Na' and 'mi' in that list." Usopp paled as he figured out his friend's sly move.

"Well, at least it's not more meat…" Zoro shrugged.

There was what sounded like a brisk nock at the door behind Zoro. Luffy and Usopp looked at it questioningly since nobody else ever came up here but the trio. Zoro shrugged it off as though it was just someone trying to play some kind of a prank on them. Silence followed for a good three minutes before the door was suddenly bent off its hinges and onto Zoro's head harshly, a ticked off blonde at the other side with a foot on the bent metal.

"Oi, damn Marimo… open the fucking door when someone knocks! Don't just sit your lazy ass in front of it like the shitty lump of kelp you are! I even took the fucking time out of serving the ladies in the classroom to bring you the damn food you left on the counter shitty swordsman! You should be god damn thankful that I noticed the fucking thing before leaving the god damn house!" Sanji glared angrily at the green fuzz that was peeking out from under the bent door and let the words fly. He was lucky that none of the ladies were close enough to hear him spout off like this. His language use made even some of the hardiest sailors cringe.

Zoro blinked with confusion at the blonde before getting a neatly wrapped bento thrown at his face. After catching it, the swordsman smirked ever so slightly at the amount of cussing that he would have never guessed would come out of the blonde's mouth. Sanji stormed back down the stairs angrily and the rooftop went silent for a few moments before Luffy let out a strangled chortle.

"What was that about?" Usopp asked innocently.

"I left my lunch at home this morning. Apparently he brought it with him." Zoro shrugged and Luffy let out another strangled laugh.

"What the hell's so funny?" Zoro glared at the younger male.

"Was that your… _boyfriend_ or _mother_? Bringing you your lunch like that, it must have been one of those two." Luffy sniggered.

"I'd call him more of my mother… he stood in the god damn kitchen wearing a pink apron this morning as he made breakfast." Zoro opened the bento and was surprised to find a pair of chopsticks inside as he dug in. Luffy began to laugh so hard that his stomach hurt.

"So… why is that guy living with you?" Usopp asked after Luffy's burst of laughter.

"Apparently his father and Koshiro are old acquaintances. They are having moving issues or something and had to stay somewhere. Koshiro took them in for a while. I'm stuck living with him for two or more months." Zoro heaved with a bored look. Luffy had managed to smell the bento and was hovering over the swordsman trying to get to the heavenly smelling lunch.

"So now that he's staying with you, he cooked _and_ packed you lunch?" Usopp looked at the obviously handmade bento that held a few of his own favorites. It smelled like something that would come out of a five-star restaurant that he knew Zoro would never be able to afford even a quarter of a meal from.

"He says that he's a chef. A pretty damn good one apparently." Zoro explained with an annoyed eye roll at the complement. "I say that he's a pretty shitty chef."

"If I may, can I have a bite of that?" Usopp looked at the lunch longingly.

"Me too, me too! I want meat!" Luffy climbed his way up Zoro's back to try and get better leverage to the food.

"Alright… you can each have _one_ piece and _only_ one because I was training this morning and have gotten hungry again." Zoro chastised.

Usopp took one as directed and surprisingly Luffy only took one as well. The two sat beside each other and tentatively put the piece into their mouths and chewed. It took Luffy only a few seconds after he was finished for drool to start leaking down his chin and to start eyeing up the bento. Zoro let a threatening glare fall on the younger man. Usopp could understand just why Zoro would be protective of the lunch, especially if said swordsman was just as hungry as he claimed to be.

~!~

Lunch had finished and Sanji noticed that the green-haired swordsman never returned to class. Sanji waited patiently until the teacher called Zoro's name and got no response. Instead of asking where the, most likely lost, swordsman was. The rest of the class went on like nothing was wrong at all._ 'That stupid block head is probably lost again. He's probably been lost so many times that everyone here just disregards it as if nothing is wrong because it has become a normalcy. His stupidly green moss head won't show up until the end of class thinking he was right on time.'_ Sanji said to himself with a slight grin at the last thought. The day went on with Sanji just acting like everyone else, sure enough that the directionally challenged swordsman wouldn't show up until the end of class.

~!~

At the end of the day, Sanji walked out of the class just after the bell rang. He started walking down the hall with his usually long strides to his locker to get his things and head on home. Just as he neared his locker, that was located right in front of the men's bathroom, he was wrenched into the bathroom by the back of his collar. Sanji being Sanji, he turned to scream at the men for possibly ruining and dirtying his clothes.

"What the fuck do you shit heads think you're doing to my clothes? I'm now going to have to wash them three times over just to get your grubby prints off the back of my collar!" Sanji yelled angrily. "Now apologize or I'm going to have to make you!"

The two males that were directly in front of him turned into four as two more blocked the bathroom door. Those four turned into eight, then sixteen as two guys came out of each of the four stalls. All of them held some kind of weapon, ranging from knives to wooden planks with nails to metal poles. Sanji let out a small sigh of annoyance at the second group of people to attack him within the last two days.

"Now what the hell do you want? I already kicked some of your asses the other day, why do I have to do it twice?" Sanji shrugged as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, making sure not to light up for being within the school.

"You are on our black list for beating up one of our members in front of everyone the other day. Prepare to bleed and die right here in this shitty bathroom." One of the guys in front of the blonde explained with a smirk. He had some weird segmented ponytail and a long, thin mustache. This was the only guy who looked somewhat like a leader to the rest who looked more like lackeys than anything.

"Oh, that idiot. I thought that there was someone staring at me from the door the whole time. Who knew it would be some of his shitty friends. Though he was _super_ weak and seemed rather _stupid_ during the whole thing. Never thought that someone could be _that_ weak." Sanji provoked the men.

"You _dare_ talk about our leader like that? Although he is really weak?" The mustache man growled angrily as he took out his weapon, spiked brass knuckles.

"Oh, he's your leader? Then you all must be _just_ as _weak_ as he is." Sanji kept provoking the man easily.

The men were provoked quicker than Sanji would have expected them to be. They all ran for Sanji at once, armed to the teeth. Sanji leapt out of their quickly enclosing circle, landed on the shoulder of one of the unsuspecting men and spun around rapidly, kicking the other men in the face. His one leg was caught by the weird mustache man and he was sent flying towards the sinks.

Using his inhuman flexibility as a defense. Sanji turned himself mid-air and hit the sinks feet first to reduce damage. He stood back up in time to dodge a punch from the mustache man, barely managing to escape without a single cut from the 'clawed' brass knuckles. Turning at another odd angle, Sanji brought his one leg around to connect with the man's lower back. His leg met the other man's arm as he blocked Sanji's attack.

Both of them jumped back two feet before trying to strike again. Most of the lackeys stood back in fear of getting killed and/or upsetting their commander. The few who didn't tried to attack Sanji from the back but were met with an unsuspected kick to the ribs each time. Sanji bobbed and weaved around the bigger man's attacks, getting used to his attack patterns and habits.

Sanji ducked under one of the attacks and got under the man's defense. He aimed a kick to his ribs but got punched hard in the gut. The blonde doubled over in pain as he was sent into the sinks again. Blood ran down his school clothes, luckily they were black, and onto the floor from the new claw-like wounds. One of the bystanders lunged at him for an attack and was met with another kick to the ribs. Everyone in the bathroom heard the tell-tale sound of breaking bones and Sanji smirked.

The rest of the group attacked all at once and was met with a series of hard kicks to either their ribs or upper thigh. Most of them lay on the floor with broken bones. Sanji let out a held in breath and faced his last opponent challengingly. Showing no weakness from the wound he received earlier, Sanji attacked with the same ferocity as he had before. Weird Mustache Man began to dodge and attack in intervals that were knew to Sanji. He hadn't done this earlier when they were fighting.

Somewhere along the line, Sanji's movements began to slow down tremendously. His injury was starting to get to him. He was unsure of how much blood he had lost, but it had to have been quite a bit because the two of them were now sliding around in each other's blood. Sanji had gotten a few hits in before his injury had started to hinder his fighting, spilling the other man's blood rather effectively. In addition, Sanji had gotten hit a few more times by the bigger man's brass claws and was now bleeding even more than earlier. The two of them fought until the bigger man was knocked unconscious with one of his strongest attacks, although it puts a strain on his body.

"When did I ever let some shitty bastard do this much to me?" Sanji mumbled as he practically stumbled out of the bathroom.

Everyone had gone home by now, so nobody was anywhere to be seen. Sanji sighed in relief at seeing the hallways empty of his beautiful ladies that wouldn't have to see him like this. The blonde staggered to his locker only to figure that there was no way he was getting home with his bag, so he just left it in the locker. His sight was starting to get blurrier and darker by the minute and it wouldn't be too long before he passed out from exhaustion and blood loss. He hobbled forward and covered the wound on his abdomen with a hand to try and slow the bleeding.

~!~

Zoro had been wandering down the hallways again trying to convince himself that he was almost near the exit when he noticed the cook stumbling down the halls like he was drunk off his ass. The swordsman stopped and stood there with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. He took a few steps forward to say some rather vulgar words to the blonde chef.

"Oi, curly, how the hell did you get drunk in a school building?" Zoro sneered.

"'M not drunk…" Sanji drew out sleepily.

"Yes you are… you're staggering and drawling out your words like a drunkard would and you still can't tell your drunk? Who's all the shit now drunken curly?" Zoro jeered rudely.

The swordsman had made it to about a foot away from the cook when he stepped in something slick. On first instinct, Zoro lifted his foot up in disgust at whatever he had gotten on the bottom of his shoe. Looking down, he noticed the thick red smudges of blood on the ground. He blinked in confusion before looking again at the cook intensely only to finally realize the darker color on the blonde's uniform.

"Oi, where the hell is all this blood coming from? Don't tell me you cut yourself on a knife while cooking or something stupid." Zoro closed the gap between himself and Sanji in a few long strides, taking a closer look at the discoloration in the blonde's clothing.

"Shut… up… mari… mo…" Sanji took a spill forward only to be caught by Zoro before he could crash to the ground. Blood seeped from Sanji's clothing into the swordsman's, effectively staining it as well.

"Stupid shit cook. Look, you ruined my good shirt with your shitty blood." Zoro mumbled have to himself as he pulled the cook's arms over his shoulders and placed his arms under his legs as support.

Sanji slumped against the swordsman's back. His breathing was labored and shallow. Zoro heaved a sigh before finally seeing the exit sign and heading out the door and making a b-line for Chopper's small office. He knew that the cook probably needed a blood transfusion and a damn good doctor right now considering just how much blood was soaking into Zoro's clothing already. Somehow, Zoro managed to get to Chopper's in only five minutes instead of the two to three hour walk he usually took getting here. The swordsman knocked on the door to the curly brunette's small office insensitively.

"Zoro, what could you want at this time of night?" Chopper answered the door while rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"It's not for me…" Zoro let the words drown out as he watched Chopper's eyes widen in horror at the amount of blood that soaked into the swordsman's shirt.

"Oh my god! Call a doctor!" Chopper started flailing and screaming for a doctor.

"Chopper, you are a doctor." Zoro explained calmly.

"That's right! Quickly come in and lay down on a bed so I can see what mess you made out of yourself this time!" Chopper chided with a glare.

"Like I said… I'm not here for me this time. I'm here for him." Zoro shifted the weightless blonde that lay unconscious against his back. The cook's breathing had become even more labored and was threatening to stop completely.

"Oh my god! What the hell happened to him? Lay him down and get me a swab of his blood so I can get his blood type quickly and start a transfusion immediately! Don't wrench him around more than necessary or he'll lose blood more quickly!" Chopper switched to doctor mode immediately and started to take control of the situation like Zoro had hoped he would. It was always a lot easier to follow than pull the punches according to the swordsman.

~!~

After three hours of constant work, Sanji was finally ready to be left alone for an hour or so. Chopper ended up falling asleep on his desk while scratching down some notes. Zoro sat in the corner doing what seemed like sleeping, but was actually meditating. Most of the night had gone by without anyone stirring or moving. The small office had fallen silent except for the monotonous beep of the heart monitor and Chopper's light snoring. Listening to the rather tedious beeping sound, Zoro had fallen into a light nap for around an hour or so.

What had awoken him was a subtle twitch from Sanji that had caused the heart monitor to miss a beat and effectively wake the swordsman. Zoro yawned woozily as he looked to the one person pull out cot that the cook was lying in. The cook lay still for a few moments before lurching harshly to the side in pain. Sanji groaned a bit and the heart monitor started to speed up a bit, causing Zoro to quickly close the gap between him and the small doctor and shake Chopper awake.

"What's going on?" Chopper groaned drowsily before snapping to alertness at the sound of the cook's thrashing that had gotten more violent in the few seconds it took to wake the doctor.

"What the hell's going on?! He should be asleep right now since he's drugged!" Chopper cried as he rushed to the blonde's side and tried to begin another examination. "Damn it, Zoro!"

"What?" Zoro asked calmly.

"Hold him down as much as possible. Try to keep his abdomen facing skyward and keep him from jarring his wounds too much. If you can, hold down his legs while you're at it." Chopper reverted into his calm and collected doctor mode that made everyone he was ordering around listen and obey without retorting.

Zoro calmly but quickly made it over to the doctor's side and tried to hold down the thrashing blonde as best as he could. Sanji twisted in odd directions that made both Chopper _and_ Zoro cringe. The swordsman had tried and failed several times to keep his legs in place and keep them from kicking out at both Chopper and himself. Chopper yelled at the swordsman half the time for not keeping Sanji's legs stilled. It resulted to Chopper using a muscle relaxant and some more sedatives to keep Sanji's kicks down to a strength that Zoro could handle while holding the blonde's body in a prone position.

"It seems that there was a subtle poison that I had missed in the first examination. It was probably due to my lack of sleep and on how I was paying more attention to his blood loss that something in the blood. Hold him down a little bit more still so that I can inject him with an antidote." Chopper rushed over to his medicine cabinets and began digging around busily.

By now Sanji had started to get feverish and pale. Zoro shifted his hold until he could lay the back of his hand against the cook's forehead. _'He's going to be so pissed when he finds out.'_ Zoro sniggered quietly to himself. Chopper came back moments after Zoro removed his hand and re-shifted his hold to where it used to be. The long, thin needle that the doctor carried was filled with some oddly green colored liquid that Chopper mentioned to be his new antidote.


	2. Chapter 2

It took the duo a while to finally get the antidote administered without sticking Sanji more than necessary and breaking a few bones while they're at it. When Zoro was finally ordered to let Sanji go so that he could thrash around some more, the swordsman gave his friend a confused look before complying reluctantly. The small doctor watched the cook's thrashing get slower and slower until he was back to just lying there quietly and calmly.

"That was something, wasn't it?" Chopper looked up at Zoro with large brown eyes.

"Eh…" Zoro muttered to himself before making his way back into the corner he was resting in earlier.

Chopper gave him an unamused look before checking on the blonde one more time before heading off to bed. Zoro watched the young boy silently before falling into a much needed rest. _'Koshiro and Zeff are going to kill me when they find out what happened to Sanji… that is, if they don't kill him first.'_ Zoro though blearily as he drifted off to sleep. All three occupants of the small office slept peacefully for the rest of the night.

~!~

Sanji awoke to some of the first rays of sun oozing through the partially parted blinds. He raised his arm to shield his eyes from the dazzling rays as he waited for his eyes to focus again. The blonde's whole body hurt to move even the slightest. Pain shot across his side and up his spine when he moved his legs and hips. Still a bit hazy from the drugs, Sanji sat there confused for a while until the swordsman shifted in his sleep and woke up to see the blonde finally awake.

"Oh great, the moss moves." Sanji said sarcastically and winced slightly when he accidentally moved.

"Hmph…" Zoro snorted irritatedly before he noticed the cook wince again. "Stop moving around. You'll just make it worse."

"Shut up! I don't need advice from some moss! I know well enough not to move around when it hurts…"Sanji trailed off as he started to think for a bit. "Do you happen to know how I managed to get this fucked up?"

"No… why?" Zoro had by now stood and wandered part way to the cot's side. He raised a brow questioningly at the blonde's strange question.

"I can't exactly remember… it's kind of hazy." Sanji was being oddly honest right now and Zoro took a guess that the drugs weren't fully worn off yet.

"That might be the drugs Chopper pumped into your system…" Zoro shrugged.

"Whoa, wait… I'm drugged up right now?" Sanji stared almost blankly at the ceiling for a moment. "Who's Chopper and where the hell am I?"

"Yes, Chopper is a doctor and friend of mine, and you're at his small clinic." Zoro sighed with a slight roll of his eyes.

"How the hell did I get here…?" Sanji gave a perplexed look as he glanced around the room, seemingly looking for someone else.

"I carried your shitty ass here." Zoro grumbled.

"Wait… that can't be right. _You_, the _directionally_ _challenged_ shitty swordsman, brought _me_ to a clinic in the middle of seemingly nowhere. How the hell did you get here without directions, or did you stop and ask for directions?" Sanji frowned.

"Hey! I'm not _that_ directionally challenged!" Zoro snarled.

"Says the man who can't even find his way around a building that he's been in for over a year already. Hell, you even get lost on your way to the bathroom half the time at the house. I've seen you do it a couple of times. You excuse yourself then wander the house for a half an hour or so grumbling about moving toilets and Koshiro mocking you." Sanji sneered back playfully.

"I can't help it that Koshiro is constantly moving the rooms around!" Zoro protested with a _very_ light blush at being caught.

"He's not… the bathroom is always in the same place." Sanji pointed out.

"He does move it! Otherwise I would have found it by now." Zoro griped.

"Do you even know where your own bedroom is?" Sanji raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Well… duh! I know where my bedroom, the kitchen, the dojo, and the living room are." Zoro grumbled.

"Did you know you had an inside gym, an outdoor pool, and an outdoor sports area?" Sanji smirked knowingly.

"When the hell did we get those?" Zoro stared at the blonde with wide eyes.

"Koshiro said that he had gotten them around two or so years ago and complained on how you had yet to find them." Sanji chuckled softly.

~!~

Chopper awoke to the soft voices of two people talking and _almost_ jumped up to yell for Zoro that there were intruders. He stayed completely still and looked around to find Zoro standing beside the blonde's makeshift bed making conversation with seemingly nothing. The young doctor blinked in bewilderment for a few seconds until it dawned on him that someone was answering back. Zoro had looked stunned at something the other person said and Chopper finally noticed that the blonde was _sitting up_ and _talking_.

"Oh my god! You shouldn't be sitting up yet! You could open up your wound again so lay back down before I _make_ you lay back down!" Chopper squealed, effectively cutting off their small chatter and causing Sanji to lay back down as fast as possible.

Zoro started to laugh hard when he noticed the frightened look the cook was giving Chopper. The drugs were still running through his system so it wasn't unusual that he would be _this_ open around both the swordsman and what he might consider a stranger that Zoro knew.

"S-sorry!" Sanji dragged the covers up until only his eyes up could be seen.

"Don't sit up again until I check to make sure that your wounds have closed to the point that you can sit up! I don't care what this idiot over here told you to do, he always ends up bleeding all over the place anyway, don't listen to a thing he says!" Chopper scolded before rushing around the room to get some of his equipment to start checking Sanji's injuries before he could let him go home.

Luckily it was a Saturday. That meant that both Zoro and Sanji didn't have to worry about getting to the school and putting up a front like he wasn't injured for the whole day only to probably get attacked again after school and have more injuries. Chopper redressed Sanji's wounds and gave him another dose of painkillers that sent him back into Lala Land. Zoro grumbled when Chopper asked him to make sure the blonde got home.

"I didn't have much of a choice to begin with you know." Zoro grumbled.

"Why?" Chopper asked innocently.

"This idiot has been staying with me the last few days." Zoro didn't feel like explaining everything another time, so he cut it short.

"Oh… then get him home!" Chopper sent a glare at the swordsman before Zoro even made an attempt to grab the cook's arm and drag him out the door.

Chopper yelled at him a few times for the rough treatment of his 'patient' and made Zoro treat him a bit gentler. Sanji swayed like his legs were going to give out at any moment. He walked beside the swordsman, almost plastered up against his side, giggling to himself like a little school girl. Zoro rolled his eyes in annoyance at the way the cook acted when drugged. The swordsman tried to tune out the annoying fits of giggles at his side and focus on meditating.

"Mhmm, Zoro… where are we going?" Sanji's voice was close to his ear and it startled him from his calming meditations.

"What do you mean?" Zoro glanced over his shoulder to see the cook blink back at him in confusion.

"Last I remember… our house isn't in the middle of downtown." Zoro raised an eyebrow at the cook's statement since he knew he would never wander into downtown without his swords. That area was bad news if he wasn't armed to the teeth and ready for anything. Downtown was the 'bad' part of town and a lot of gangs resided here and fights were constantly breaking out around the area. The swordsman looked in front of him to notice that they were in the _middle_ of downtown.

"Yeah, let's get back to the upper area." Zoro turned back the way they had come and snagged Sanji's elbow in the process, effectively pulling him along. Sanji staggered along with him while glancing around nervously.

"Mhmm, Zoro…" The cook breathed quietly. "I don't feel good."

"Like what? An upset stomach or something?" Zoro didn't drop his voice to meet the cook's hushed tone. Sanji visibly tensed at the swordsman's loudness and glanced around nervously again.

"No…" Sanji picked up speed to be right at the swordsman's side. "It feels like we're being watched and hunted."

Zoro tensed at the statement. He had been feeling a rather uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach since he was pulled out of his meditations. By now he had guessed that someone was following them. In an effort to not alarm the drugged cook too much, he put on a calm and collected stance and tried to keep his pace at an average speed, no matter how much he really wanted to run out of the place.

"Zoro…" The cook pleaded quietly. "I wanna go home _now_." Sanji started glancing around quickly again, flicking his eyes to every small shadow nervously.

"Just give me about five or so minutes and stop walking so close to me!" Zoro growled under his breath.

Sanji reluctantly fell back a step but continued to keep his hand on Zoro's arm. He kept glancing around nervously, the drugs adding to some of the weird things he was currently catching out of the corner of his eyes. Zoro kept trudging along at a steady, unwavering pace to show that either he hadn't noticed the odd presence around him or that he just didn't care. The duo had finally made it to the street that would take them home in five or so minutes and Sanji's legs gave out from under him in relief.

"Oi, shit cook, it's not time to sit down yet." Zoro glanced behind them to see one or two people still stalking them from the shadows.

"I can't stand back up…" Sanji looked down at his shaking legs and shook his head before turning around to see the people moving around in the shadows.

"Why the hell not?" Zoro glared at the smaller man before him.

"I ran out of strength…" Sanji stared hard at the ground.

Zoro thought back to some of the symptoms that might be left from both the drugs and poison. He recalled the younger man talking about loss of strength, being overly honest even if it wasn't like them, puking, small nosebleeds, loss of appetite, and fuzzy memories. Chopper had said that if any of these symptoms occurred, then he was to deal with it accordingly. Meaning that he is now forced to carry the shit cook home since he can no longer stand, let alone walk.

"Fine… Chopper said I _had_ to get you home. Koshiro and Zeff will also have my head if I don't get you home in one piece…" Zoro sighed in defeat before yanking the cook unsteadily to his feet and onto the broader man's back.

"Sorry…" Sanji trailed off and seemingly fell asleep as the swordsman trudged home with a passed out cook slumped against his back.

Zoro happened to take notice to the cook's small weight and thinness. It was unusual for someone to be have _that_ long of legs and weigh only around eighty or so pounds, let alone be a male who only weighed that much. The swordsman pushed his way into the front door of the house as the sun had just risen over the horizon. Nobody seemed to be awake so Zoro took it to himself to get to his room as silently as possible.

He placed Sanji on the cook's bed and pulled his shoes off before sliding the covers over him. The cook groaned in pain a little as he shifted to a more comfortable position. Chopper's drugs should be wearing off soon and it will probably wake the reluctant swordsman up again. Zoro threw his socks and shoes towards the clothes basket, not caring if they missed or hit, and did the same with his clothes before pulling on a pair of dark grey sweat pants and crawling into his own bed.

~!~

Zoro awoke to the delicious smell of eggs, bacon, and toast cooking somewhere downstairs. He climbed out of his bed and glanced at the blonde's bed to see if he was still there or was the one making breakfast again. To Zoro's surprise, his bed looked like it had never been touched during the night except for the stack of clean clothes at the foot. The swordsman's own bed seemed to also have a stack of his own clothing at the foot and he glanced at the time.

"Holy shit! It's almost noon already!" Zoro cursed at himself for waking up so late and practically tore down the steps to get some training in.

Zoro hit the bottom of the steps only to be rewarded with the cook standing in the middle of the living room. Sanji was twisted in a practically inhuman way and was trying to bend over backwards at the same time. The swordsman reeled in horror at the sight before the horror turned to awe. It took the cook only a few seconds to almost touch the ground before he winced in pain and had to unravel himself to stand straight again.

"What the hell are you looking at shit head?" Yup, Sanji was back to being himself instead of the drugged up mess he was just last night.

"Something curly that can curl into the same shape." Zoro grumbled before _walking_ to the table that already had a plate of food on it instead of _running_ to the dojo.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Sanji glared at the swordsman before taking his usual spot beside him.

"Where's Koshiro and Zeff?" Zoro glanced at the blonde to see him picking at his food.

"They said something about a fair and that we should come a bit later. Koshiro wrote a note and stuck it on the fridge this morning for me to see… probably because he knew that your moss head would never find it. Like the gym, pool, and sports area." Sanji smirked a bit at his own comment before going back to a blank look and picking at his food.

"He should have just left it on the dojo floor… I would have found it there." Zoro snorted.

"After how many fucking hours? We have to be at the shitty place by two." Sanji grimaced at the time that was left for getting ready.

"What do we _have_ to wear? Koshiro has a habit of picking the shittiest of places." Zoro polished off his place and looked at what the cook had left, almost a full plate.

"About that…" Sanji trailed off and tried to find something interesting to stare at. "It says something about wearing whatever because we'll be changing into something else when we get there."

"What's so god damn bad about changing into something else?" Zoro shifted in his chair so that he could watch the cook's expressions a little better.

Sanji contorted his face into a look of disgust before letting it slide back to a passive expression. "…animal ears… yukata…"

"Animal ears and yukata? What the hell are we going into?" Zoro pushed out of his seat and headed to the fridge to see the note.

'_Zoro, Sanji,_

_ Please don't be mad at us but we went out to this new fair while you two were at school. After deciding that we both enjoyed ourselves to the fullest, we planned to come back as soon as possible. Since you two didn't come home until late last night, we took it upon ourselves to go out to the fair again. We would like it if you two showed up around two o'clock PM. If you are late, I will personally let Zeff kick your ass Zoro and I will kick your ass Sanji. Thanks for understanding this situation as well as you most likely are right now. Wear whatever because you will be changing into select animal ears and yukata! We both hope that you two make it here because this place is so entertaining. Despite the ears and yukata, you will love this place._

_Your parent,_

_Koshiro and Zeff'_

Zoro groaned in annoyance. Sanji had moseyed his way into the kitchen while Zoro was busy reading the note. He sat up on the counter with a swift grace that only the cook would be able to accomplish without injuring himself. The swordsman looked up towards Sanji with a look that clearly said, 'What the fuck!'

"That's the exact same thing I was thinking when I read the shitty thing." Sanji looked displeased at the whole ordeal.

"They can't be serious…" Zoro paled as Sanji showed him a picture on his phone that was sent to him a while ago.

"I'm afraid that they're _dead_ serious." Sanji watched Zoro's expression as it changed to pure horror at what he saw.

Both men sighed at the same time as Sanji closed his phone and shoved it back into his pocket harshly. He found the floor interesting as the swordsman walked past him with the same decision. They were silent the whole time they got ready and drove, Sanji was the driver, to the fair. Upon arrival, they were slipped into separate dressing rooms and prepared for their time at the fair.

~!~

"What the hell is taking the shit cook so fucking long?" Zoro grumbled under his breath as he stood by the dressing room exit. It had been nearly twenty minutes since the swordsman had been dressed. Sanji finally sauntered out of the dressing room exit.

"What took you so fucking long-" Zoro's train of thought went down the drain as he saw exactly what the cook was wearing.

The yukata stood out against all of the others he had seen so far. It was a bright golden color, the same gold as the cook's hair, and had a black sash. Sanji stood there with a light blush on his face at how he looked. A pair of blonde fox ears had also been set atop his head.

"The stupid dresser wouldn't pick something normal. I told him just to give me black and the shit head found _this_ instead." Sanji glared at the ground embarrassingly.

"At least I won't be able to lose you." Zoro pushed back all of the other comments he had been thinking about moments before and chose to go with a normal response.

"_I'm_ the one who needs to be able to find _you_, damn shitty lost marimo." Sanji finally looked up to see what Zoro was wearing. His breath seemingly caught in his throat as he thought of just _how_ nice Zoro looked. The swordsman wore a dark green yukata with a black sash, but his yukata hung open to show the long scar that ran from shoulder to hip. A pair of green tiger ears were placed atop his head, suiting him perfectly.

Sanji stared at Zoro's scar in amazement, awe, horror, and surprise. Zoro raised an eyebrow at the cook's sudden loss of words and realized that the cook didn't know about _that_. The swordsman sighed and started walking in a random direction which shook Sanji from his shock and caused him to retaliate.

"Stupid marimo! They are going to be near the stage. Where the hell do you think you're fucking going?" Sanji grabbed Zoro's shoulder and pointed him in the direction of the stage, pointing to it at the same time. "That's where we are _supposed_ to be heading shit head."

"I knew that! I was just taking a detour." Zoro grumbled before following the length of Sanji's finger and towards the stage.

"What kind of a detour is that? One that gets your shitty mug lost for over an hour straight?" Sanji sighed in frustration before trailing along. Pointing Zoro in the right direction a few times.

~!~

Zeff and Koshiro were standing at the very base of the stage. Sanji waved to his foster father once he sighted him. Zoro kept his stoic posture and didn't even say hello when they got up to the two of them.

"I could see you coming from a mile away, Sanji. I was wondering what they might put my little eggplant in." Zeff cooed.

"I told you to stop calling me that!" Sanji screeched angrily.

"What's wrong eggplant? Cat got your tongue?" Zeff purposefully glanced at Zoro and the cook raged even more.

"Fuck off Zeff! I came here alright? Now I'm going to go spend _my_ life _my_ way!" Sanji stormed off angrily.

"Zoro, go with him. He tends to forget about rules when he gets this angry." Zeff smirked as he and Koshiro started walking off.

Zoro rolled his eyes at the thought of having to play babysitter for the day and hurried after the retreating form of the blonde cook. It was surprisingly easy to keep sight of and catch up to Sanji considering the one-of-a-kind yukata that he wore. Nobody else had a yukata that stood out quite as much as the cook's.

Sanji stormed into a small area of tents. He headed straight for the one that had a big sign saying, "Good, Strong Alcohol Here!" Zoro perked at the thought of downing a few cups of sake. Not waiting even a moment, the swordsman hurried up to Sanji.

"How many?" The 'waiter' asked.

"Wah-" Sanji was cut off with a quick "Two!" from Zoro who had come up behind him.

"Alright… this way." The waiter looked at Zoro and Sanji questioningly at the green haired man's sudden arrival and the blonde's easygoing attitude towards it.

They were taken to a picnic table just behind the tent. There were more picnic tables filled with people drinking the night away. The first drinks were on the house, then the rest had to be paid for. Sanji sat towards the middle of the bench and Zoro sat across from him. After ordering their drinks, the duo sat in silence for a while.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sanji broke the seemingly indefinite silence.

"Zeff asked me to follow you… something about not paying attention to the rules." Zoro blew off the question. "What's with _eggplant_?"

Sanji's face turned bright red at the use of his _nickname_ that he was used to only Zeff using. He began to sputter and didn't want to answer the question. "N-n-nothing… it's j-j-just a-a n-n-name…" Sanji stared at the grass, something he did when he was nervous.

"There's something else about it, isn't there, shit cook?" Zoro leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his hands.

"N-nothing your sh-shittiness n-needs to kn-know…" Sanji's face got even redder every second.

"Tell me… all about… it." Zoro drew out teasingly.

"Not unless you tell me about _that_!" Sanji glared, pointing at the swordsman's long scar.

"Fine, I got it while challenging a gang leader downtown. I refused to get a scar on my back, so I stood in front of him with my arms out and took the blow. This is the result… now you need to tell." Zoro quirked an eyebrow at the sudden stiffness.

"I…" Sanji cut off abruptly when the waiter came back with their drinks and didn't continue until he left. "Zeff really isn't my _real_ father. My parents were killed by some thugs that had tried to mug them and ended up killing them when my father fought back. Zeff adopted me after he heard the news of my family. They had apparently been good friends before the incident. He started to use that nickname to get me over the trauma of losing my parents. Though it annoys me now more than ever." Sanji took a large swig of his wine to help him relax.

"So, you're over it now… eggplant." Zoro couldn't help himself from using the nickname at least a few more times.

"Stop calling me that fucking damn shitty asshole marimo! I just told you something that is fucking hard for me to fucking say and you go and fuck it all up by shitting all over what little damn pride I have left and fuck up what's left of my sanity too!" Sanji hollered angrily before adding, "Yes, I'm over it." Calmly.

"Doesn't seem like it." Zoro downed half of his mug of beer in one gulp.

"Keep your own damn comments to yourself!" Sanji took another large swig from his glass.

"Whatever… eggplant." Zoro chuckled into his glass as the cook raged again.

~!~

The two of them had drank a few glasses over the first free drink. Sanji was so drunk that he was having a hard time staying on the bench and off the table. Zoro hadn't changed and seemed as sober as ever. He watched with amusement as Sanji sprawled his chest and arms out on the table and hummed to himself, too drunk to care who saw or heard him. Luckily Zoro could just take them home since the yukatas were free and their clothes were in the car.

"Hey, shit cook. I'm taking you home." Zoro polished off the rest of his beer and the small sip of wine that Sanji had left in his cup before walking over to stand beside the drunk cook.

"I dun wanna go home yet. There'sh shtill plenty of time to play!" Sanji whined with a slur.

"Come on drunken shit cook, time to get you outta here before Zeff or Koshiro finds what I let you do to yourself." Zoro grabbed under Sanji's arms and lifted him to his feet easily.

"I'm not drunk! I'm jusht happy!" Sanji wobbled unsteadily on his legs as the world seemed to spin.

"Yes you are. Now let's go." The swordsman grabbed the cook's wrist and carefully led him out of the area after paying. He wandered around with the drunken cook while dodging Koshiro and Zeff _while_ trying hopelessly to find the exit and their car.

"Zoro ~ my feet hurt~!" Sanji hummed into the swordsman's back as he slumped against him.

"Do I have to do _everything_ for you?" Zoro grumbled and scooped the cook up onto his back.

"Yesh, pweashe~!" Sanji slurred sleepily.

Zoro sighed and wandered for a few more minutes until he _finally_ found the exit. Sanji had wrapped his arms around the swordsman's neck in a tight hug. Getting to the passenger's side of the car, Zoro peeled Sanji off of him and managed to somehow get him into the seat and buckled in without getting snatched at. The swordsman wandered around to the driver's side of the car and hopped in to find Sanji already asleep. He pulled out a hidden GPS, that he always carried when he went somewhere in his car, and set the location for home.

~!~

They arrived home in only five minutes and Zoro hopped out and pulled Sanji from the passenger's seat as quickly as possible. There was a chance that Koshiro and Zeff would come home at any moment and he wasn't going to risk getting his ass kicked. Sanji stirred in his arms and wrapped an arm around Zoro's own in a tight grip. Zoro rushed up to the bedroom and peeled the chef off of his arm again, only to turn around and be pulled into a death hug from behind.

"What the hell is your issue shit cook?" Zoro snarled annoyingly.

"Can you shleep wit me, pweashe?" Sanji slurred against his back.

"No! Go to sleep drunkard!" Zoro growled angrily.

"Alwight, I jusht go to shleep here!" Sanji nuzzled his face between Zoro's shoulder blades and the swordsman gave up then in there.

"Fine! You can sleep with me, but there's no way I'm sleeping in your bed or the floor! One rule, don't fucking touch me anywhere strange or I'm kicking your ass onto the floor!" Zoro screeched defiantly.

"Alwight! I get to shleep wit Zoro!" Sanji tightened his grip around the swordsman and nuzzled himself further into his back once they had gotten into the bed and under the covers.

"Night, night Zoro~!" Sanji yawned.

"Night, Sanji…" Zoro sighed before reluctantly slipping into a light sleep.

~!~

Zoro awoke to someone shifting around in front of him. They had somehow managed to switch places while sleeping, though Sanji was still snuggled to the swordsman. Sanji groaned in his sleep and tried to shift into a comfortable position, effectively waking Zoro and pissing him off at the same time.

"Can't you just stay still?" Zoro grumbled.

"I dun wanna…" Sanji whimpered in his sleep.

Sanji shifted again and started squeezing himself up against Zoro like his life depended on it. Zoro sighed and looked around the room for the alarm clock. It was Sunday, and only nine in the morning. Good time considering how much their sleeping patterns had been messed up. The cook opened a clouded eye to look at what he was holding. When the sleep finally left his system, he shoved Zoro off the bed, _hard_.

"What the hell was that for shit cook?" Zoro growled as he hit the floor.

"Why the fuck are you in my fucking bed?" Sanji pulled the covers higher and pointed an accusing finger at the swordsman.

"Excuse me, but you're in _my_ bed right now…" Zoro stood up as Sanji glanced around the room horrified.

"How the fuck did I get here? What the hell did you do to me? Where the fuck are Zeff and Koshiro?" Sanji cursed as he backed up against the wall.

"_You_ got drunk last night so I _had_ to bring you home before they saw you. On the way here, you hung onto me like a lost kid and then wouldn't let go when we got here. Then _you_ asked _me_ if _you_ could sleep _with_ me and I said no. After that you clung onto me and wouldn't let me go to sleep unless you were sleeping with me. Sound familiar?" Zoro explained with his arms crossed over his chest.

"You must have fucking slipped some shit into my damn drinks because I only fucking remember drinking two damn glasses and I would _never_ ask to sleep with a shitty marimo!" Sanji barked back defensively.

"For the record, you drank about four or five glasses of wine last night." Zoro stared at the blonde in his bed with a pissed off expression. Sanji still hadn't left the confines of _his_ covers yet. Yes the swordsman had let the blonde sleep with him, but it was purely on a whim.

"There's no way I would drink that much when with you!" Sanji snarled.

Zoro leaned down onto the bed and put his face inches from Sanji's. "What? Got something you don't like?"

"Fuck off damn marimo! Get the fuck away from my face!" Sanji slid back as far as he could go and lifted his foot off the bed to clip Zoro in the jaw with his toes.

"Ow… don't do that when I'm not ready for it." Zoro growled before grabbing his foot and sliding the cook off his bed and onto the floor.

"Get away! Fucking molesting perverted shitty marimo!" Sanji dashed down the stairs as quickly as possible and Zoro smirked at his harassment.


	3. Chapter 3

Zoro followed the blonde after a few minutes. The smell of food cooking drifted up the stairs again. When he arrived at the bottom of the stairs, Sanji was cursing softly to himself while reading yet another note. It hadn't taken Sanji long to throw the note onto the table and swiftly make his way back into the kitchen. Sanji had been wearing the pink apron again that Zoro waved off as his girliness.

"What's this note about?" Zoro called out to the chef as he made his way to the table.

"Apparently Zeff and Koshiro went to that god awful place again. Something about free amusement ride tickets and free beer." Sanji had composed himself from earlier by focusing on cooking.

"Do we have to go this time?" Zoro sat down in his usual chair and rested an elbow on the table.

"It didn't say so… so I guess not." Sanji sighed. "I _never_ want to go back there again!"

"Why? Was it because you stuck out like a sore thumb, got drunk, then ended up sleeping in my bed?" Zoro smirked as he harassed the blonde chef.

"No… well, not all… you didn't happen to see half of the couples there, did you?" Sanji poked his head out of the kitchen.

"I wasn't paying attention, why?" Zoro looked at the cook with a raised eyebrow.

"They were all either okama or just plain gay… that's why nobody questioned you when you snuck a table with me…" Sanji explained.

"Really…? I never noticed…" Zoro looked puzzled as Sanji went back to focusing entirely on cooking.

Sanji shifted around the kitchen without his usual grace. The night before was fresh on his mind and was affecting the speed and grace he used while in any kitchen, even bad ones. To anyone else, except for Zeff, it didn't seem like anything was off. Zoro peeked into the kitchen to find Sanji completely engrossed in cooking.

The swordsman slipped past the cooking blonde to get to the dojo. He planned on training a bit before breakfast was completely finished. Zoro slid into the dojo silently before grabbing one of his beloved swords and practicing his swings. It didn't take him long to fall into a good rhythm and lose track of time again.

~!~

Sanji had finished making some eggs, toast, and bacon for breakfast almost five minutes ago. He had stuck the food in the oven on an _extremely_ low temperature to keep it warm. Right now he was just standing by the stove staring off blankly at a wall, his mind kept trying to replay last night in his head without the missing sections with little hope. Sighing in defeat, Sanji walked out to the table with the best smile he could must to try and not let the swordsman know that something was eating at him.

"Oi, marimo… food's rea-" Sanji cut off as he noticed the table was empty. He looked around the immediate area before rolling his eyes and going off to search for Zoro.

~!~

"Damn Marimo! Where the hell did you get lost at now?" Sanji yelled in frustration at not being able to find the green-haired man.

He stalked past all the places the swordsman knew about and even the places he didn't. Sanji had been the whole way out to the road and back looking for the idiot. It had been nearly an hour since he had tried to serve breakfast to find Zoro missing. The cook looked everywhere that he thought Zoro might be. _'Where the hell could that directionally challenged bastard disappear to in five fucking minutes! I have looked every god damn place… everywhere! Where could he-' _Sanji's thought process cut off abruptly as he walked right past the dojo and heard a solitary _whoosh_ come from inside.

"Shitty bastard…" Sanji huffed as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it up before walking in.

Zoro had noticed the tapping of shoes and the click of the door. He had been so wrapped up in practicing that he had momentarily forgot about the cook and Zeff. Knowing that Koshiro _never_ walked inside the dojo while he was practicing, Zoro took the person walking in as an intruder who planned on killing him behind his back. The swordsman whipped into the partially opened supply closet without a sound and waited patiently for the intruder to pass his hiding spot. Since he didn't know who the person could be, he drew all three of his swords with a quiet _shht_ sound.

Sanji had unknowingly walked into an awaiting tiger's den. The tiger, Zoro, was ready to pounce any second and Sanji had unwillingly become the protagonist of a horror story. He thought that the dojo sounded eerily quiet compared to what he heard outside and had to chalk it up to Zoro taking a break from training. It took the cook three steps to pass by the unnoticed supply closet.

The moment he passed, there was a slight shifting sound before he was knocked down onto his chest and the sharp blade of a sword was pressed to his throat as someone heavy sat on his back. Sanji didn't even dare to swallow as the sword rested awfully close to his jugular. Zoro took a minute to realize that the person under him didn't mean any harm and it was actually the cook who he had threatened to kill just moments before.

"Sorry…" Zoro muttered as he pulled the sword away from Sanji's throat and stood up.

"What the hell were you thinking? Putting something that fucking sharp to my neck and threatening to hack it off the some wild animal! Don't try to kill me the god damn moment I fucking step into this shitty place!" Sanji roared as he picked himself off the floor and felt his neck to make sure nothing was bleeding.

"It's your own fault for stepping in here. Koshiro should have told you that you shouldn't come in here when I'm training." Zoro had managed to slide two or his three swords back into their saya before the cook turned around.

"Well he didn't! Here I am trying to _feed_ you instead of just feeding only myself and you try to chop off my head! You don't _deserve_ to get anything to eat!" Sanji stomped off back to the house while fuming. Zoro put his swords in the storage room before heading off to the kitchen to eat.

~!~

It had been almost two hours since the accident in the dojo and Sanji still wasn't talking to Zoro. The swordsman was getting frustrated with the silence that seemed to permeate the air whenever the chef would be near him. It was getting so bad that Zoro started doing little things to intimidate and upset the cook. Things like moving the knives, turning off the TV while Sanji was watching a cooking show, removing the pillows from the couch, and even stripping the chef's bed of blankets were just some of the _little_ things Zoro was doing. He was even going far enough to try and use the cook as a footrest if they both ended up sitting near each other. Sanji clenched his jaw shut and put up with everything the swordsman did to piss him off. He was putting up with it as punishment for this morning.

Zoro yawned excessively loud as Sanji sat across the couch. His feet were on the cook's lap and the TV was turned off, the controller in Zoro's lap. Sanji sat there with a blank look in his eyes and the muscles in his jaw tensed. The swordsman knew he was close to snapping just by the way his jaw clenched and unclenched every few seconds. It wasn't even noon yet and he was already making the cook's life hell for being silent.

"When's Koshiro and Zeff supposed to be coming home?" Zoro asked before yawning, he was going to _make_ the cook speak one way or another.

Sanji still stared blankly at the TV like he never heard a thing. This irked Zoro just the right way. He pulled his feet off the chef's lap, Sanji still never noticed, and waltzed up in front of him. He noticed how far off the cook's eyes were and sighed frustration. It was just like Sanji to go off into never-never-land when something happened that he didn't want to be around. The cook had done this several times in his life; the night he lost his parents, the first night when Zeff had adopted him and he didn't want to take the time to know the old man, when Zeff tried to explain that they had to live with one of his old friends for a while, when the principle of the new school had tried asking him about his parents the moment Zeff left the room, and the first night that he had to sleep in this house. It was his way of coping with a bad situation and it worked three-quarters of the time.

"Oi, shit cook, you there?" Zoro waved his hand unenthusiastically in front of Sanji's face to try and snap him out of his trance.

"Hey~" Zoro pushed the chef's shoulder lightly and still didn't get a response.

"Oi~! Sanji~!" The swordsman loomed over the cook like a wild animal stalking its prey. He had unsuccessfully tried to shake Sanji out of his trance a few times and was on the verge of giving up before an idea struck him.

Zoro slid his arms around the cook's midsection and lifted him off the couch. Sanji just let himself be picked up like a ragdoll as he stayed in his own little world. The swordsman smirked devilishly before flopping back down onto the couch in a laying position with the cook against him. This, _this_, was bound to make him come back out of it.

~!~

In Sanji's own little world, he was cooking in one of the best restaurants there is. He was concentrating hard at what he had to do and moved gracefully around the kitchen and other chefs. Nobody got in his way and he got in nobody else's way. The sounds and smells of the kitchen lulled him into a steady rhythm as he worked his food to perfection.

"Hey~" Someone called out and the cook looked around a bit to see who it was. None of the other chefs seemed to hear it, so Sanji filed it away as his imagination.

"Oi~! Sanji~!" Sanji perked to the sound of his own name and looked around again to see nobody but the other kitchen staff. He finished up his part of the job and jogged out of the kitchen and into the employee's bathroom to check if he was sick or not and to compose himself again. As he reached the mirror, he looked in to see that his reflection wasn't his own.

The mirror mirrored the swordsman's face instead of his own. Backing up in fear and horror, Sanji darted to another mirror to see the exact same thing. Starting to freak out, the chef high-tailed it into the nearest open stall and leaned against the toilet seat. In the water was the same reflection of the tan man's face instead of his own pale face. Sanji paled slightly and flung out or the bathroom to get stuck in a sea of mirrors, all mirroring the swordsman instead of himself. He started to run as fast and as far as he could to get away from the mirrors only to seemingly be followed by the haunting reflection that wasn't himself.

~!~

Zoro watched as the cloudiness in Sanji's eyes seemed to lighten and cloud again. He watched for a few minutes as this happened a few times. After a while, the cloudiness started to dissipate from the ocean blue eyes. Sanji wiggled in his arms a few times like he was trying to run away from something. The swordsman smirked as he saw the cloudiness dissipate completely to leave the clear, blue eyes that he was used to seeing.

"Zo-" Sanji mumbled before his eyes widened and he shoved hard against the swordsman's broad chest to end up on the floor.

"Get the fuck away from me!" The cook winced as he tried to scramble away, only succeeding to back up into the television and smack his back against it hard. He winced again at the rush of pain shooting down his back and from his side.

"He speaks again…" Zoro teased as he propped his head on his elbow playfully. He hadn't noticed the pain that the cook was in yet and Sanji let out a silent sigh of relief.

"Shut up you shitty perverted bastard! What the hell do you think you were fucking doing to me shitty marimo!" Sanji screeched from his spot on the floor. It hurt too much to even try to stand, so he settled for staying on the floor.

"Nothing… I was just bringing you back from wherever the hell you went earlier." Zoro shrugged it off innocently before letting a smirk play across his lips.

"I didn't want to fucking come back to this shitty hell-hole you bastard!" Sanji growled threateningly as he sat on the floor, his hand hovering over the injury on his side. It hurt like a son of a bitch right now.

Zoro sat up and then stood up off of the couch. "You know… _nobody_ ignores me and doesn't get punished for it… no exceptions." He began walking towards the cook with an evil smile.

"Stay the fuck away!" Sanji tried to crawl backwards some more only to be stopped by the wall this time. "Don't fucking come near me!"

"What's wrong? Don't like pain much, do you?" Zoro crouched in front of the cook like he was a little frightened kid before sticking his hand out towards the chef's shoulder.

"Don't fucking touch me!" Sanji tried to cringe away only to wince in pain instead. Moving from in front of the television to up against the wall was taking a toll on his tired body.

Zoro watched in amusement as the cook tried to cringe before that amusement was wiped off his face at the look of pain that passed the cook's features. He watched as Sanji hovered his hand over the wound on his side without touching it. The cook babied the area as he tried to crawl backwards into the corner.

"You know… if it hurts you should probably tell someone." Zoro stayed crouched in his spot on the floor.

"Fuck off shitty stupid marimo! It's not like I _want_ to fucking tell you!" Sanji snarled from the corner. His hand stayed hovering over the spot like he was afraid something would fall out.

"Stay there… I'll call Chopper…" Zoro sighed as he stood and walked to the phone.

"Hell no! I'm not letting some strange brat poke me with strange shit again while I'm still conscious!" Sanji growled as he stood up unsteadily and wobbled towards the swordsman threateningly.

"That won't be a problem, will it?" Zoro grumbled as he watched the cook stagger towards him unsteadily. Sanji was about to take the phone from him when he missed a step and tumbled forwards into Zoro's arms. The swordsman looked down to find Sanji completely out cold. He sighed as the phone beeped and Chopper's voice sizzled through the line.

"Zoro, what's wrong?" Chopper's static voice echoed in his ear.

"It's about that friend I brought over the other day… I need you to come see him again." Zoro carefully shifted Sanji in his arms so that he held the blonde up a bit better and was able to move him if necessary.

"Oh my god! What happened? What's wrong? Did his wound come open?" Chopper yelled through the receiver whole heartedly.

"He passed out from the pain, so can you just come see him instead of freaking out on me?" Zoro heaved a sigh at the doctor's excessive worrying, or at least excessive in his mind.

"I can't right now… I'm at the hospital and am about to go into surgery. I'll be over _immediately_ after I'm finished so that I can check up on him though! Put him in bed, change his bandages if necessary, and get a towel damp with ice water on his temple and remember to change it every so many minutes until I get there. It shouldn't be _too_ long before I finish up here and make it to your house… he is still at your house right?" Chopper instructed.

"Yeah, he's still here… I'll do what you said and try not to get lost while I'm at it." Zoro confirmed before the doctor sighed loudly into the receiver.

"It's sad that I can't do anything about _that_ problem of yours… It'd make life so much easier for all of us." Chopper meant the best but only succeeded in irritating the swordsman.

"Yeah, yeah… by Chopper." Zoro grumbled.

"See you soon, Zoro." Chopper hung up.

Zoro sighed in defeat as he carefully shifted the cook in his arms so that he could carry him to the bedroom. It was good that Zoro actually _knew_ the way to the kitchen and the bedroom so that he could do this with little to no issues. Good thing that he kept a few extra stacks of bandages in his nightstand next to his emergency storage of sake. The swordsman whipped around the house getting a pale of ice water, a towel, and the bandages from his nightstand.

Sanji grumbled and wiggled in his sleep. The pain had gotten to a point where it was uncomfortable and hard to handle, even if you were out cold. Zoro clambered into the room as Sanji shifted uncomfortably. He was starting to sport a small fever due to the pain. It didn't take the swordsman long to soak the towel and ring it out before placing it on Sanji's forehead, over his bangs.

Zoro slid against the side of the bed and began to unbutton Sanji's dress shirt. He didn't understand why the cook had to always wear fancy clothes like suits and stuff. The only time he had seen him without anything fancy on was at the fair, and the clothes were still rather dressy. After Zoro had agonizingly unbuttoned all of the buttons instead of just popping them off, he was sure the cook would pulverize him or poison his food if he did, he checked the bandages.

"Stupid shit cook." Zoro grumbled as he saw the blood soaked bandages. It looked as if Sanji hadn't changed them in days.

It was actually because the cook had pushed himself while cooking and searching for Zoro. Getting knocked down and sat on didn't help, and neither did falling onto the floor unexpectedly. Zoro carefully began to peel the bloodied bandages away. He was glad that he had thought ahead and brought another towel that he could use to sop up the blood and clean the wound with. After wrapping the fresh bandages around the cook's midsection, Sanji began to stir uncomfortably again. His fever had gotten worse while Zoro was working.

~!~

Zoro paced around the kitchen. It had been nearly four hours since Chopper had called and Sanji's condition was worsening every few minutes. His fever skyrocketed into the triple digits and he kept shifting around and groaning in pain. The swordsman had come into the kitchen to wait and be there when Chopper arrived. He paced faster as the minutes ticked by, going back into the room every few minutes to change Sanji's towel. There was the sound of a car door slamming shut and Zoro raced for the door. Just before Chopper could ring the doorbell, Zoro whipped it open.

"I'm sorry I'm late! The patient hit critical in the middle of the operation and we had to wait until he came back down to continue!" Chopper spoke rapidly in fear of the rage that seemed to waft off Zoro in waves.

"You're _very_ late. Sorry just won't cut it, you have to fix _this_ first. While you were waiting for _your_ patient to come off of critical condition, _mine_ hit critical." Zoro growled threateningly as he led Chopper to his bedroom as fast as he could.

"How bad is it?" Chopper asked sheepishly before Zoro opened the door to the bedroom.

"Real bad… he has a fever in the triple digits and he won't stop bleeding and groaning in pain." Zoro gave a quick report as he pushed into the room.

Sanji had been in the middle of shifting and groaning again as the young teen came through the open door. Zoro had come straight to his side and refreshed the ice towel before Chopper could say or do anything. Chopper stood there with wide eyes and fear threatening to bring him to tears. The swordsman _had_ been right. While he was off waiting for a patient to come off of critical condition, the cook _had gone into_ critical condition.

"Zoro… we need to carefully move him to my place _now_. I don't have anything here with me that I am going to need and all the equipment that will be useful is at my place. Can you carefully pick him up and carry him there while monitoring his breathing, pain, and possibly his heart rate too?" Chopper looked into the swordsman's eyes with a look of fear and urgency.

"I can." Zoro said simply before crouching beside the bed and lifting the cook carefully to his back. Chopper helped the swordsman get Sanji into a comfortable and easy to carry position across his back before Chopper led the way out.

"I was dropped off by a friend, so we'll have to walk to my house. Even though I don't want to move him, we have to get him where the equipment is. Make sure not to jostle him too much or he might drop into a worse critical condition." Chopper opened the door for Zoro before closing it behind him and leading the way to his house at a quick, but not too fast, pace.

"Alright… If something's up I'll let you know." Zoro grumbled as he carefully shifted the cook up his back a bit more.

The two of them had walked in complete silence for a quarter of the way before Sanji stirred from his sleep and looked hazily at the blurry ground. He could feel himself rested on someone's back and was being gently carried across rather uneven ground. A car whizzed past to his left, sending a breeze of chilly air across his back and causing him to shiver. His shirt was open and flittered in the simulated breeze.

"Sanji…" Zoro spoke softly, causing his chest to rumble.

"Mmmnn…" Sanji made a noise to show that he was attentive, even though he wasn't ready to speak.

"I thought you were awake…" The vibrations from Zoro's chest lulled the pain in the blonde's side for the time that it was rumbling. "We're on our way back to Chopper's. The equipment he needs is all there so we had to move you."

"Mhmm…" Sanji acknowledged what the swordsman said half-heartedly.

"Even though you said not to, I still called him…" Zoro teased playfully and received a weak smack on the back of his head. The swordsman smiled at the small gesture, knowing that Sanji was going to be okay if he could still fight with him.

Zoro started humming a random tune when he noticed that the vibrations made the cook relax and eased the pain a bit. Sanji dozed off to sleep as the rumble lulled him. Chopper, who had been walking a few paces ahead, slowed down when he heard the swordsman start humming a tune that they had sang together as kids. He looked at Zoro questioningly as the swordsman gently motioned to the cook.

"Was he awake?" Chopper asked after a few minutes.

Zoro stopped humming just long enough to answer. "Yeah, the vibrations that are caused from my talking was making him less tense, so I started to hum so that it would keep vibrating." Zoro went back to humming right after he finished his sentence, not pausing for even a moment.

"Ah, that's good. Keep it up then!" Chopper cheered the green-haired man on quietly as they made the final stretch before they would reach Chopper's clinic.

~!~

After about ten minutes they finally reached the clinic. Sanji's breathing had slowed and steadied on the way there. Zoro could feel the heat radiating off of the cook against the cold chill of the air as he waited for Chopper to unlock the door. His temperature had actually gone down a bit since they left the house, but not by much. The swordsman kept track of the pounding he felt against his back and the cook's breathing like Chopper had asked, but it was hard when he was still humming.

"Alright, put him in the nearest unit so that I can work right away. I need to grab a few things and then I'll be there." Chopper slipped into his doctor mode instantly and hurried off to his storage room.

Zoro shifted the cook comfortably on his back as he entered the first unit. He strode over to the makeshift bed and gently slid the blonde off of his back and onto the cot. Sanji wiggled a bit in his sleep as he left Zoro's cool back and the soothing rumble. The swordsman placed a hand gently over the cook's temple and checked his temperature. It wasn't surprising to feel just how much heat radiated off of him considering what he had felt in the chilly air on their way here.

"Alright, Zoro, hold out one of his arms and hold it _still_ this time." Chopper whipped into the room holding a few small glass jars of different medicines and some packaged needles.

Zoro pulled one of the cook's arms away from his body and out so that Chopper could inject him with something. Just as the doctor was about to stick him, Sanji opened his eyes to a scene he'd rather not have woken up for.

"No. No. No. No. No. No. No! No needles!" Sanji struggled weakly against the swordsman's iron grip to get away from the small doctor.

"Oh, he's awake Chopper…" Zoro calmly held him there like nothing was wrong.

"I wish he would have stayed asleep… It would make this a hell of a lot easier." Chopper grumbled as he aligned the needle again.

"Fuck no! You're not fucking sticking me with _that_!" Sanji shrieked as he tried to kick at Zoro. The fever and his injury made it hard to move and halved his strength in return.

"Stop sissy slapping me with your feet shit cook, or I'll tell Chopper to miss the first time." Zoro glared at the blonde with a dead serious expression.

Sanji froze in fear at the thought of being stuck twice by the sharp needle that Chopper was already starting to push into his skin. The cook felt the tell-tale pain throb in his arm and he started to flail around in response while trying to push himself away from the doctor. Zoro heaved a sigh as Chopper pulled the needle out and went to get another one for a different injection.

"Hell no! Not fucking twice!" Sanji pushed against Zoro's grip with all the strength he could muster.

He managed to hit a three-quarter point with one thrust of his legs, pushing Zoro to the floor as well as himself. They landed on different sides of the makeshift bed and Chopper started to yell at Zoro for not holding on tight enough. Sanji slipped on the floor a bit before tripping to his feet and dashing out of the unit with Zoro right behind him. The cook willed himself to go as fast as he could as he dashed through the clinic and onto the streets in seconds. Zoro growled irritatingly at the cook's antics to having to get a shot, like it was a big deal, and thought about how he should have just knocked him back out when Chopper wasn't looking. 

"Go the fuck away marimo! There's no way in hell I'm fucking going back to that hell hole!" Sanji cursed as he ran in a random direction.

"Oh yes you are! One way or another!" Zoro growled as he finally caught up to the cook who seemed to be slowing down, not the swordsman speeding up.

Sanji stopped abruptly, sending Zoro stumbling forward. "Zoro… where the hell are we?" The blonde looked around to try and resituate himself and where he might be at.

"How the hell should I know… you were the one running away, didn't you keep track of where you were going?" Zoro regained his composure as he walked up to the blonde.

"Would you fucking keep track of where the fuck you were going if some shitty bastard was fucking chasing you like a damn maniac?" Sanji snarled angrily at the swordsman.

"Well, no… but that doesn't mean you shouldn't!" Zoro pointed an accusing finger at the blonde.

"I know you're fucking directionally challenged, but that doesn't mean place the fucking blame on me, shit head!" Sanji crossed his arms challengingly.

Zoro stepped closer to the blonde and fisted the front of his shirt angrily. "Don't _ever_ blame me for something I _never_ wanted." The swordsman snarled threateningly.

"All because _you_ have a problem with _your_ genes doesn't mean that _I_ can't blame _you_!" Sanji barked back while he grabbed the swordsman's wrist to keep him from hurting the blonde more. "Now put me the fuck down or-"

Zoro dragged the cook closer to himself so that their chests were touching lightly. "Or what? You'll kick my ass? I wonder how you can do that when you're having trouble staying standing right now."

"Fuck off! I can stand on my own just fine!" Sanji growled defensively.

"So if I let go, you won't fall on your ass?" Zoro quirked an eyebrow teasingly.

"No, I won't shit head!" Sanji fumed angrily as he tried to pull out of the swordsman's grip.

Zoro let go of the cook suddenly and Sanji had to grab the swordsman's shirt so that he wouldn't fall. "I thought you said that you wouldn't fall…" The swordsman teased and the blonde glared back at him.

"Of course I'd fall when you let go so fucking suddenly!" Sanji retorted as he steadied himself.

"You said you wouldn't though…" Zoro teased as he looked off to the side for emphasis on how close they were.

Sanji took notice to their closeness and pushed away from the swordsman immediately. His face turned a bright red as he shoved his hands in his pant pockets and walked away stiffly. Zoro watched the cook walk aimlessly in a random direction. He raised an eyebrow questioningly before slowly following the blonde.

"Where do you think you're going?" Zoro hovered near the cook's back as he caught up.

"Anywhere away from you!" Sanji snarled angrily.

"Aww, I know you liked it~." Zoro teased more.

Sanji didn't reply, but increased his pace instead. The swordsman smirked to himself as he followed obediently. They wandered like this for about an hour or so until they _somehow_ managed to get back to Chopper's. Chopper tapped his foot on the ground angrily as he stood beside the door. As soon as he noticed Chopper, Sanji tried to run away again only to be grabbed forcefully by Zoro.


	4. Chapter 4

It took Zoro nearly an hour after Chopper had finished treating Sanji to get the blonde back home. He kept dragging his feet and crying like he had just went through some major trauma. Zoro would just roll his eyes every time the cook would mumble something about evil doctors or sharp needles. The swordsman still didn't understand what was so bad about getting a few shots.

Zeff greeted them at the door. He had stern and upset expression when the two came home. Zoro carefully made his way up the sidewalk, not sure of why the older man was so upset. Sanji never saw Zeff and continued to stagger his way up the walk in front of Zoro with tears streaming down his face.

"Where were you two at so late?" Zeff grumbled angrily.

"*sniff* needles… shitty evil doctors *sniff* fucking pointy objects *sniff* I fucking hate *sniff* shitty hospitals and *sniff* doctors…" Sanji mumbled as he passed the older man, successfully pissing him off.

"Zoro, what the hell is this about?" Zeff eyed the swordsman accusingly.

"Well, you see… Sanji and I went to the park for a while and he saw some _cute_ girls and went frolicking after them. He wasn't watching where he was going and tripped over a rock. The idiot landed right in the rocks and ended up cutting himself, so I took him to my friend who is a doctor to patch him up." Zoro completely made the story up on the spot and kept a completely neutral face so the older man wouldn't ever notice.

"How many times do I have to tell that stupid eggplant to watch what he's doing?" Zeff mumbled to himself before turning into the house. He just accepted the story with _zero_ questions and believed the swordsman the whole way through. Zoro followed with probably one of the dumbest looks on his face.

He hid his surprise behind a mask the moment Koshiro stepped into the room to ask what took them so long. Zeff explained the story as Zoro made his way up the stairs and into his bedroom. It was about time for him to go to sleep so he could be up for school tomorrow. As he slid into the room, he noticed the evident blonde puff on Sanji's bed.

It looked so out of place in the dark room. Zoro slid past the cook's bed and to his dresser. He took note that Sanji had indeed managed to change before he fell asleep on top of the covers. Zoro sighed in defeat as he slid over to the cook's bed and gently yanked the covers out from under him and laid them on top of the sleeping blonde before heading into the bathroom to change.

'_Wait, when did I ever start changing in the bathroom?'_ Zoro thought to himself as he slid out of his clothes and into a pair of soft sweat pants. _'I guess it was after _he_ came…'_

The swordsman quietly slipped out of the bathroom and into his bed. It was kind of unsettling that Sanji barely made a sound when he slept, but that might be from the trauma of his childhood. Zoro had never met his parents, so he wouldn't know how it would feel to lose them so fast. He shifted around in his bed until he stared at the wall. Tonight was probably going to be a _long_ night for him.

~!~

Zoro had been called from the door to the dojo for breakfast. After the first incident, Sanji never stepped foot in there since. The swordsman grumbled a reply as he put his weights into the storage room and flung a towel over his bare shoulders to sop up some of the sweat. He waltzed into the dining room like he owned the place and didn't give a shit if it was breakfast or not.

"Keep walking like that and I won't feed you." Sanji's voice chided from the kitchen and Zoro walked normally the rest of the way to the table.

"What is for breakfast anyway?" Zoro peeled the towel off his shoulders and tried to dry his dripping hair.

"Moss on a stick… what the fuck do you think? Eggs, toast, and bacon dumbass." Sanji growled as he brought a plate of food out.

'_Why the hell is he still wearing that damn pink apron?_ Zoro thought to himself before answering. "You don't _always_ have to make the same thing for breakfast…" The swordsman grumbled with a clearly irritated tone.

"What the hell? Get a god damn bath before sitting your shitty sweaty moss head at the fucking table!" Sanji sneered at the sweat that dripped off the swordsman. "I don't want to have to clean it off the fucking table later!"

"I'm hungry, what do you expect me to do?" Zoro thought for a moment before standing up out of his chair.

"What the hell are you doing, shit head?" Sanji was no in grabbing distance as he placed the plate down on the table.

Zoro let a sly smile slip and the cook cringed. Then the swordsman grabbed the cook in a hug and wiped his sweaty forehead in the other's hair.

"Gross! I don't want your fucking moss juice on me shit head!" Sanji screamed as he tried desperately to peel himself away from Zoro.

Zeff and Koshiro came down stairs to see what the commotion was all about only to find their sons hugging, unwanted or not. The two older males turned around as fast as they could and high-tailed it back to their bedrooms the moment Sanji caught sight of them and started to cry out for help. Zoro's upper body strength held the cook in place as he desperately clawed at the other man's chest and face.

"Fucking get off of me already!" Sanji cried out angrily.

Zoro was taken aback when he felt the cook shift and practically do a back bend in his arms. Sanji's hands hit the ground flat and he pulled his legs along with the rest of his body, causing Zoro to whip through the air with them and land on his back. As the swordsman caught his breath, he felt Sanji start slipping through his grip. He squeezed a bit tighter to keep him in place, earning a squeak from the startled cook.

"What was that supposed to be, a mouse?" Zoro teased as he held on even tighter.

"Shut the fuck up marimo!" Sanji squealed as he tried to wiggle out further by placing his hands on the swordsman and shoving as hard as he could. The cook got out to his waist before Zoro tightened his hold once more.

Sanji huffed in annoyance and exhaustion at the whole charade. It had been about ten minutes since the whole thing had started and it was already getting tiring. Zoro smirked as he held on a bit tighter and dragged himself and the cook off the floor. The blonde squealed again as his toes came off the floor. He wiggled around a bit more to try and get loose, but to no avail.

"Put me the fuck down!" Sanji roared.

"No way! This is too much fun!" Zoro laughed.

"Fucking put me down!" Sanji tried to kick at the swordsman. "I need a fucking bath now that you put your disgusting moss juice all over me!"

"You do realize just how wrong that sounded…" Zoro smirked.

"That's not what I meant and you fucking know it!" Sanji growled as his face turned beat red with embarrassment.

"Hmm, sure~…" Zoro dragged out and squeezed a bit tighter.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Put me down! Put me down!" Sanji howled in pain as the swordsman squeezed a bit too much.

Zoro dropped the cook when he realized that he had hurt the blonde. Sanji stumbled forward into the green-haired man's chest as he lost his footing and doubled over in pain. The swordsman gripped his shoulders lightly to keep him from doing a face plant into the table next to them. They stood in silence for a few seconds before one of them even dared to break the awkward silence.

"Sorry…" Zoro mumbled. "I forgot about _that_."

"Shut up moss brain!" Sanji growled threateningly.

Zeff and Koshiro came stumbling down the steps to see what had happened. When they heard the pained screams from the cook, both of them rushed to get down the stairs.

"What the hell happened?" Zeff grumbled out.

"Nothing much… I just squeezed him a bit too hard." Zoro smirked playfully and the cook glared at the swordsman.

"Oh, ok… I guess we're heading back to bed now. You have about an hour before you both have to leave for school, so try not to get carried away." Koshiro turned and calmly walked back up the stairs with Zeff taking suit not long after.

"I'm going to go take a bath…" Sanji mumbled as he pushed off the swordsman's chest and headed for the bathroom.

"I need one too so don't take too long!" Zoro growled before a smirk played across his lips again. "Otherwise I'll have to come in and take one anyways."

"Don't you fucking dare or I'll rip your god damn entrails out and fucking feed them to you!" Sanji cursed as he wobbled away a bit awkwardly.

~!~

The two of them got to school on time, though Zoro never got a true bath. He had to hose himself off in the backyard because the cook used up all the water and wouldn't leave the bathroom until his hair was completely dried and fixed up. Zoro had rolled his eyes at the cook's antics, but left him go anyways. Entrails weren't one of the top items on his favorite lunch menu today.

On their way to school, Sanji insisted on saying good morning to every female they saw. The cook's constant wiggling and "proper etiquette" speeches were getting on his nerves. It was either that or the way that the cook pretended that he didn't exist every time a woman got in the blonde's line of sight. Zoro walked into the classroom with a very pissed off expression and that he didn't want to be here right now and would rather be off killing someone.

"Zoro~! Can I have a word with you?" Nami poked her head inside of their classroom during lunch break and spoke softly so that the blonde wouldn't know that she was there.

"What the hell do you want witch?" Zoro grumbled with a hint of irritation sliding into his voice.

"Can you bring that blonde friend of yours to the student council office later? We have something that we'd like to ask you two~." Nami hummed as sweetly as she could.

Zoro watched the girl's actions closely before speaking. "If you want money, I don't have anything to give you…"

"What the heck is wrong with you? I don't want money, though it would be nice, we just have something to ask you two!" Nami fisted the swordsman's head angrily before stomping off. "Be sure to be there after class!"

~!~

The last bell had rang and Zoro sat sleeping in his chair. Sanji saw to it that he saw off all of the girls from the school building before picking his way back up to the classroom. Zoro was _exactly_ where he had left him. It had been a rather _long_ morning in the bathroom steeling his nerves so that the swordsman wouldn't ever know that everything he did had _ever_ affected Sanji.

"Shit head, wake up! School's over dumbass!" Sanji scoffed when he noticed that Zoro was _not_ going to wake up.

"Zoro~!" Sanji poked the swordsman's cheek playfully when he realized that waking the man was out of the question.

After a few minutes of one-sided harassment, Sanji made himself content by sitting on the desk that Zoro had his face plastered too. He made sure to sit on it enough that he wouldn't fall off, but not so much that he would touch the swordsman.

~!~

Nami stomped down the hallway with Robin following at her heels with a much calmer attitude. Zoro was late, _real_ late. It had been about an hour or so since school had let out and she knew that the blonde wouldn't just let Zoro drag him around the school that long, looking for the student council room. She almost slammed the classroom door open angrily, only to hold the door still when she saw the sight before her.

Sanji had moved himself off the desk and into the seat in front of the swordsman. The blonde sat on the seat backwards, facing Zoro. He had fallen asleep in the same position that Zoro was in, so that they looked like they mirrored each other. Nami took a few tentative, quiet steps into the room before smirking evilly and pulling out her phone. She snapped a few pictures from different angles for blackmail later before waking the swordsman up by banging her fist on the top of his head.

"What the he-" Zoro hollered before being cut off by Nami's hand. She made a motion towards the desk he was sitting at before removing her hand from his mouth.

Zoro took notice to the sleeping blonde and lowered his voice to a hushed whisper. "What the hell do you want witch?"

"I told you to come to the student council room after school, remember?" Nami growled in the same hushed tone.

"I fell asleep…" Zoro stated with a bored expression before turning his attention to the blonde sleeping in front of him.

"Since you didn't make it on time, I'm automatically putting you into the student council's disciplinary committee without your consent and my full rights." Nami explained.

"You can't do that!" Zoro growled back.

"Oh… yes… I… can~" Nami sang out cheerily as she showed him her new photos.

"No way…" Zoro stared at the photo unbelieving. "Can you send me a copy of that?"

Nami stared at the swordsman blankly before replying in a weak voice. "Sure…" Robin chuckled to herself quietly as Nami's plan to use the picture as blackmail backfired.

"You know, swordsman-san, if you would have come to the committee room on time, you and cook-san here would have had a choice." Robin chimed in quietly.

"I'm glad I didn't." Zoro smirked as his phone let out a weak tinkling sound. "I get this instead."

~!~

Nami sighed in defeat after a couple of minutes of completely awkward silence. She turned and walked out of the room with Robin quietly, leaving the swordsman alone with the sleeping blonde. It didn't take him long to carefully lift Sanji out of the seat and carry him bridal-style out of the room. He silently made his way out of the school building and started heading towards the house. The blonde seemed to be more exhausted than he was and it was probably because of the events of the last few days.

They arrived home in less than ten minutes. Koshiro stared at him questioningly before heading out into the dojo to start one of his classes. Zeff had gone back to the Baratie to check up on some things and cook for a while. Zoro carried the sleeping blonde up the steps and into his bedroom. He carefully pulled back the covers on the blonde's bed and laid him down.

Zoro slipped Sanji's shoes off and placed them by the door so he would remember to take them back down the steps with him. The cook's school jacket came next in the equation. He laid that on the blonde's dresser so that he could find it later before pulling the covers gently over him. It didn't take the swordsman long after he had taken Sanji's shoes back downstairs to come back up and crawl into his own bed for some extra sleep. When Zeff came home and didn't see them, his mind went straight to what they were doing in the dining room this morning and he decided not to go looking for them.

~!~

Sanji awoke the next morning with a blaring headache. He practically crawled out of his bed at three in the morning. His internal clock was forever stuck on that time as a time to get up and get ready from his days working at the Baratie. Zoro shifted in his bed, but did not wake up. _'Sometimes that moss can sleep like a moss covered log…'_ The blonde thought to himself before practically dragging himself down the steps and into the kitchen to make breakfast and their bentos.

Zoro's alarm went off at five and he slowly slid out from under the covers. He yawned as he headed for the door, taking note that the cook was indeed out of his bed. The swordsman found Sanji sitting at the table with his temple pressed to the table. Two plates of food sat in their normal spots at the table, but had not been touched.

"What the hell's for breakfast this morning?" Zoro grumbled rather loudly as he sat in his seat.

"Shut the fuck up and open your shitty eyes damn moss." Sanji growled into the table's surface.

"Oi, what's wrong with you, shit cook?" Zoro poked the blonde's head.

"…headache…" Sanji mumbled into the table softly.

"Did you take some pain killers? Or did you lose your way?" Zoro teased as he stood up.

"Shut up! I couldn't find any…" Sanji rested his chin on the table instead and pouted.

"They should be in the bathroom cupboard you know… I'm not sure how you couldn't find them." Zoro explained as he started heading for the bathroom.

"Idiot, the bathroom's the other way and I had already looked…" Sanji heaved a sigh as he stood up and walked the swordsman to the bathroom.

"I knew that…" Zoro furrowed his brow as he followed the cook obediently.

"Sure you did… even though you complain about Koshiro moving the bathroom around _all the time_~" Sanji teased and watched the swordsman's cheeks get a shade darker.

"He does! He moves it all the time!" Zoro snarled defensively.

"Then how do _I_ know where it is?" Sanji inquired as they got to the bathroom door.

"You're in on it too…" Zoro glared as he stalked up to the cupboard and dug around a bit before handing Sanji a bottle of pills.

"These aren't pain killers…" Sanji raised an eyebrow questioningly as he eyed up the bottle of meds.

"That's where I hide the extra strength pain killers I get from Chopper so that Koshiro doesn't find them and use them all up without me knowing." Zoro explained as he crossed his arms. "That means that you can't be taking them every time you get a bit of pain from a bruised knee or something stupid like that."

"Like hell I would do that! Do you even realize who you're fucking talking to? I have gone with broken ribs and no pain killers, so don't even start with the _'I don't want you taking these for painful bruises'_ speech, I get it." Sanji growled before opening the bottle and popping two pills out.

"Alright, jeeze! You don't have to flip on me. I was just explaining what you shouldn't take them for." Zoro held his hands up in defense at the cook's little spaz.

"It sounded more like you were accusing me of taking pain pills for bruises!" Sanji snapped back before handing the pill bottle back to the swordsman.

"You never know…" Zoro placed the bottle in the back of the cupboard before shutting it and turning to the cook with a sly grin. "You _are_ rather delicate."

"Sh-shut up! It's not my fault that you're a mossy gorilla!" Sanji snarled before high-tailing it back to the dining room with Zoro following along. His face had turned a bright red at the small statement and he didn't want to acknowledge the swordsman's words.

"So now you're accusing me of hurting you?" Zoro hovered over the blonde's back and placed his hands on the counter top as he whispered in the cook's ear while the cook was getting a glass.

"Yes!" Sanji had whipped around to yell at the swordsman only to find himself inches away from the green-haired male's face. "N-no…" Sanji whispered as he pressed his back into the counter top.

"Which one is it?" Zoro pushed against the cook slightly to press for his answer.

"Y-y-yes… you, you do… hurt me… sometimes…" Sanji managed to squeak out as he pressed further into the counter, his face turning redder by the minute.

"That just means all the more that you're…" Zoro pressed further into the cook until he could whisper the last word into his ear. "…_delicate._"

The swordsman smirked at the frantic beating coming from the other man's chest. He was too close for comfort and he knew that. Zoro was in the middle of enjoying his bout of harassment when he felt the cook's heart miss a beat and he stiffened. It was Zoro's first instinct to back away and look at the man's face to see what was wrong. Sanji's eyes had went wide and were staring past him with a shocked and embarrassed expression. Zoro turned around to see _both_ Zeff and Koshiro standing in the doorway to the kitchen, staring at them with the same expression.

"I guess we'll leave you two here alone then…" Zeff muttered before briskly walking out the door.

"Umm… good morning, I guess. You guys only have ten minutes before you need to be out the door, so don't do anything… _lengthy_." Koshiro said with good intentions only to watch the two males before him pale drastically. "I'll be… um… going then!" He took off out the door as fast as Zeff had and made a break for the dojo.

"L-l-l-l-lengthy…?" Sanji sputtered as he tried to crawl backwards, on top of the counter, to get out of the swordsman's reach.

"That was awkward…" Zoro mumbled as he backed away from the cook and into the dining room to eat his breakfast. _'They weren't supposed to show up! I was having so much fun harassing him too!'_ The swordsman thought angrily.

Sanji stayed smashed against the counter, frozen at the sudden appearance and actions of his housemates. His legs gave out from under him and he crashed to the ground. The blonde sat there on the floor for about five minutes until he heard the swordsman leave the dining room so that he could eat his breakfast quickly.

~!~

Zoro and Sanji walked to school in an awkward silence with Sanji walking on the other side of the road. The swordsman smirked the whole way there as the cook constantly kept checking to make sure that Zoro was indeed still on his own side of the road. Sanji's thoughts kept replaying the scene from this morning. He walked silently in hopes that Zoro wouldn't say anything or try to make another move on him.

They walked like this the whole way into the class until Sanji _had_ to sit next to Zoro as class started. He kept staring out the window and ignoring the still-smirking swordsman who seemed to be playing with his soul like it was a bouncy ball. Class ended with the lunch bell and Sanji being the first one out of his seat and across the room in seconds. Though he was immediately stopped at the door by Franky.

"Hey~ you must be Sanji-bro~!" The blue haired teen stood in an odd position and was actually wearing _pants_! "Nami-sis and Robin-sis sent me to fetch you and Zoro-bro. I'm Franky by the way!"

"What do those witches want, Franky?" Zoro came up behind the cook from what seemed like nowhere and Sanji tensed slightly before thinking about what the swordsman just said about two ladies.

"Who the hell do you think you are calling a lady a witch?!" Sanji drop kicked the swordsman as he turned around suddenly.

"She is! That bitch is a witch!" Zoro tried to test his case and lost.

"Who are you calling a bitch?" Nami punched Zoro on top of the head after Sanji had drop kicked him a second time.

"God damn witch, what the hell do you want?" Zoro rubbed his head before getting another drop kick from Sanji for his language.

"You remember last night, right? Your first assignment is to patrol the grounds during lunch~!" Nami squealed excitedly as she punched Zoro in the back for forgetting.

"I remembered! You don't have to hit me all the fucking time!" Zoro growled at the orange haired teen only to get another reminder in the form of a drop kick to the head about his language use. "You don't have to fucking abuse me either!"

"I have all fucking rights to abuse a damn shitty marimo bastard! Especially if he hurts a beautiful lady such as Nami-swann here~!" Sanji screamed in the swordsman's face before wiggling around and cooing at the navigator.

"What rights! All because you live in the same house as me doesn't give you the rights to hurt me!" Zoro snarled back.

"I make your god damn shitty breakfast every morning with enough fucking nutrients for a moss like yourself! I also do the god damn laundry every other fucking day so that your shitty ass has clothes! I do the fucking cleaning around the house after you've been through every damn room! I _also_ get your shitty ass home every fucking day since you can't fucking seem to _learn_ the way HOME!" Sanji listed out with not-so-silent words.

"Don't you fucking _dare_ bring my inability to find my fucking way around into this conversation!" Zoro growled threateningly as he pointed a finger in Sanji's face. "I _can't_ control that and _you_ fucking know that!"

"I'm sorry that fucking _moss_ can't find its god damn way in a _bathroom_!" Sanji barked back.

"I _can_ find my way _in_ the bathroom!" Zoro corrected.

"Oh, my fucking bad! You just can't fucking find your god damn way _to_ the fucking bathroom!" Sanji snarled defiantly.

Both boys fought for a total of ten seconds before Nami smacked both of them on top of their heads and tied them back to back with rope. Who knows _where_ she was keeping that. Sanji sat there with an irritated look obediently at Nami's request while Zoro struggled and struggled to get free before getting another fist to his head. Franky just stood there the whole time holding in a laugh and some tears.

"Franky! Bring them to the student council room while I inform the staff about this change." Nami ordered before stomping off.

Franky picked the boys up and they immediately began to continue where their fight left off at. They fought the whole way to the student council until Franky threw them onto the table in the middle of the room. Nobody else was there and Franky walked right back out. Both boys went silent as they were left alone in the dark, silent room.

"Oi, marimo… do you think anyone else is in here?" Sanji whispered under his breath as quietly as he could but still loud enough for the swordsman to hear.

"No…" Zoro spoke at his regular sound level, loud.

"Shh… what if there is?" Sanji hissed angrily.

Zoro smirked as he rolled his weight to one side, effectively sliding them off of the table and onto the floor. Sanji squeaked in surprise before biting his lip at the seemingly loudness of the otherwise quiet sound in the dark room. The swordsman landed on his feet and stood as straight as he could so that they wouldn't fall over and not be able to get back up. It took a few seconds for Zoro to spot it, but he noticed a part of the door hinge was awkwardly twisted back so that it pointed out sharply.

"Hey… shuffle along with me." Zoro grumbled quietly before shuffling his one foot out towards the hinge.

"Why? Shuffling around won't do us any good!" Sanji huffed as he too, had been looking around for anything to untie him from the swordsman.

"I found something to get us out of these ropes… unless you'd rather stay like this…" Zoro smirked as he felt Sanji shift weight and slide his foot out beside the swordsman's.

"Where the hell is it so I can kick your ass for that comment…" Sanji grumbled with a hint of embarrassment in his voice as he and Zoro started to shuffle with Zoro's lead.

"I'll be the one kicking your ass shit cook!" Zoro laughed as they shuffled across the floor.

"Not without your swords you won't be!" Sanji smirked knowingly.

"That's unfair! We're putting that duel on hold!" Zoro smiled as he answered back in a whine.

Zoro pushed himself against the door and Sanji on the other side of him did the same. They pushed the rope into the twisted hinge and Zoro started to slide down, the cook following soon after. One of the rope strands got caught on the hinge and started to pull. As they hit the floor in a crouch, the rope started to snap on the hinge, but a few strands were left that just wouldn't snap.

"Damn… it didn't snap the whole way…" Zoro grumbled.

"Ah, that's fine. I have an idea." Sanji twisted in the slightly looser ropes until he was in a good position. "Hold my weight for me, will ya?"

"Whatever…" Zoro acted as if he didn't want to do it, but he was getting excited at soon being free.

Sanji twisted ever so slightly until he could place a foot on one of Zoro's legs as they crouched on the floor. The cook crunched his legs up as much as he could to get leverage before pushing off of the swordsman as hard as he could. Zoro had to fight to keep his face off the floor as the ropes began to pull tighter. There was the telltale snapping sound and the ropes slid free loosely, sending Sanji stumbling forward.

"Shit!" Sanji cursed angrily as he accidentally ran a finger across the sharp hinge.

"What?" Zoro got off the floor and turned to look at the cook.

"I cut my damn finger…" Sanji hissed as blood ran down some of his hand.

Zoro took a step forward and grabbed the cook's hand. He licked the blood trail off of his hand all the way up to the wound before sticking the finger in his mouth. Sanji winced at the burning sensation as a blush made its way across his cheeks. The cook kept looking anywhere but the swordsman in front of him as he felt the other man's tongue slide across his finger in a caress.

"Saliva helps to stop the bleeding quicker. Water would just make it bleed more." Zoro mumbled as he _finally_ slid the cook's finger from his mouth.

"I know what water can do…" Sanji mumbled. "I'm a cook, remember?"

"I remember…" Zoro slid away from the cook to give him some room. "You're a shitty cook, so I just thought…"

"Fuck off bastard." Sanji growled playfully in response to the swordsman's teasing.

Nami slammed the door open and into the cook. Zoro slid right in between the door and Sanji in order to save the cook from getting a door in the face. The swordsman also had to slide the cook to the side slightly so that the hinge wouldn't cut into his back as he ended up pressed against him from the force of the door. Their faces were only inches apart as the cook froze and Zoro's expression went dark with anger.

"Where the heck did those two go?" Nami pouted at Robin as she walked in.

"I wonder where they could have gone off to all tied up like that." Robin stated knowingly.

The door slammed shut behind the two with force, causing them to turn around. Zoro stood there with his hand on the door and a pissed off expression as Sanji stood smacked up against the wall where the door had been.

"You are a dead witch, bitch." Zoro growled out lowly, snapping Sanji back to reality.

"Were you behind the door? I'm _so_ sorry for opening it so harshly." Nami cooed as she tried to wiggle her way out of the situation.

Zoro lunged for the girl's throat but was thoroughly stopped by a harsh kick to the gut. Sanji glared at him from across the room as he stood a couple steps in front of Nami. The navigator had backed up a few steps in fear of Zoro actually killing her for slamming him with the door. It wasn't for that reason though, Zoro was upset at the fact that she could have injured Sanji more than he already was.

"Oi, marimo… what the fuck did I say about manners and insulting a lady? Where the hell is my duel too?" Sanji pulled a cigarette out of his breast pocket and lit it up to ease his erratic heartbeat.

"You're not allowed to smoke in school, shit cook." Zoro smirked as he stood back up on his feet. "Maybe I should discipline you for that?"

"Like you can… I should discipline you for attacking another student." Sanji smirked around his cigarette as well.

Nami and Robin noticed the thick aura emanating from the two males and decided to take a few steps back. They slid as close to the wall as they could, knowing all too well that war was breaking out. The two males could destroy a whole block if left unattended for too long. There was also only a select few who could stop the two at their peak, only one residing in the school.

"I'm going to get my duel now, right?" Sanji shifted his weight defensively.

"Hell yeah…" Zoro tensed his muscles and lunged forward.

Sanji swiftly jumped into the air and out of the way as he flipped over Zoro gracefully. As his feet hit the floor, Sanji twisted his body and shifted his weight to one foot again as he swung a leg out at Zoro. The cook slid his hands into his pockets as Zoro ducked under his attack and tried to grab one of the powerful legs. Sanji shifted his weight again to follow the momentum of his attack earlier and he dodged the simple attack easily. Nami and Robin sat back staring in awe as the two boys dodged every attack, resulting in not a single injury between them.

Zoro pushed his foot down on the floor hard in a sword-user's stance. He reached for another one of Sanji's missed attacks only to be dodged and another kick thrown at him. The whole fight to the two boys seemed to go in slow motion. For the girls, it was like watching a race in person. They couldn't distinguish the two apart except for the blonde smudge and green smudge of color every here and there that would whip past.

They fought for approximately thirty minutes like that before Luffy slammed the door open. He glared at the two of them angrily as Sanji and Zoro ignored him completely. After noticing that both Nami and Robin _were_ okay, he waltzed up to them and stood beside them to watch. Sanji and Zoro took notice of the raven, but didn't say or do anything about his sudden appearance.

"Why aren't you stopping them?!" Nami snarled angrily as she punched Luffy on top of the head.

"If you interrupt them, someone will get hurt. Plus, it's fun to watch~!" Luffy did a three-sixty with a smile as he sat down to wait out the so-called duel.

Zoro watched the cook's every move with interest as well as intent for an opening. Sanji watched the swordsman's every move with the same interest and intent. It was interesting to watch the muscles in the swordsman's arms and back ripple under his thin clothing. For Zoro, he watched the lithe form carefully, noting the strong, muscular legs that seemed to contradict the cook's whole physique. They kept dodging carefully as the duel turned into more of a complicated, fast dance than a fight to win.

Something, or someone rather, was flung into the student council room and right into the complicated fight. Luffy shot to his feet as he worried for his friend and the cook. Sanji managed to twist in an impossible angle that only he could twist into as he dodged the body. He somehow managed to snag his feet around the swordsman's midsection and draw him away from the fast moving object as well. They landed a little awkwardly, but escaped the massive amount of damage that they _could_ have done to each other.

"ACE!?" Luffy yelled as his brother skidded on the floor.


	5. Chapter 5

"_ACE!?" Luffy yelled as his brother skidded on the floor._

~!~

"Hey Luffy~! I thought that I'd drop by, but Franky was at the door and he said that I shouldn't come in, so I jumped past him and busted in instead!" Ace smiled one of the D. Brother's famous grins.

Sanji and Zoro panted as they lay on the floor in a pile. The swordsman had somehow landed across the cook's chest during those few seconds of turmoil. Zoro panted from the effort of the complicated 'battle' that the cook and him were in while Sanji panted from that _and_ the energy he spent trying to get Zoro out of the way as well. Who knows what would have happened if he had left the swordsman in Ace's path.

"Oh… Sanji, Zoro… I didn't see you two! What are you doing on the floor?" Ace cocked his head to the side like a dog at his own question.

"Dying…" Both of the males replied in unison.

"Funny… now what are you two _really_ doing down there?" Ace made a funny face as he asked the question again.

"We told you, we're dying… we almost did just a minute ago, so why can't we die now?" Zoro grumbled when he noticed that Sanji wasn't going to answer him a second time.

"What do you mean you almost died? Who the fuck was it? I'm going to kick their god damn ass when I see them!" Ace made a fist in the air angrily.

"I want to see that… considering that person was _you_." Zoro heaved out with a small laugh before focusing on breathing again.

"Wait, what?" Ace stood there dumbfounded.

"Ace, when you came flying through the door, you almost hit them while they were fighting. Though they weren't really fighting, it was more like dancing since they weren't hitting each other." Luffy explained with a sigh before waving goodbye to his friends. "I'm going to go get something to eat, want to come Ace?"

"Food? Hell yeah!" Ace shouted as he ran after his younger brother cheerfully, completely forgetting about what he _almost_ accomplished in doing.

"Don't forget to patrol the grounds when you're done getting yourself back together. You're next period has been taken out and replaced with hall duty, so don't mess things up." Nami reminded the duo before stepping out of the room. Robin smiled as she flicked the light on so that they could see everything better instead of sitting in the dark for quite a while.

Zoro and Sanji just laid there and panted heavily as they tried to catch their breath again. The swordsman shut his eyes to relax, but couldn't slip into a meditative state because his mind was on the not-so-subtle rise and fall of his head that rested against the cook's chest. Not one of them attempted to move from that spot. They just laid there for a few minutes until their breathing evened out and Sanji was no longer gasping for air.

"Damn it marimo, get the fuck off." Sanji grumbled as he shut his eyes tight.

"You're the one who pulled _me_ down you know… making a move on me are you?" Zoro smirked as he sat up.

"Fuck you too… I just _saved_ your ass from becoming pulverized marimo… could have cooked you up and everything too~" Sanji winced as he sat up and stretched out his back.

"Now what did you do?" Zoro eyed up the cook expectantly.

"Nothing… I just twisted my back a little far and pulled something." Sanji barked back.

"Is that even possible? You can bend backwards in half and not hurt yourself, but you twisted a _bit_ too far and ended up pulling something?" Zoro asked in bewilderment.

"I have limits too you know! I'm not superhuman!" Sanji scolded the swordsman as an audible pop sound came from his back.

Zoro winced at the sound as Sanji relaxed his back and let it curve until another pop was heard. He breathed out as he slid forward and touched his toes before bending in half, touching his chin on the floor between his legs. The swordsman watched him with a bit of awe at the way he could bend and still not injure himself like any _normal_ human would have done already. It was something he was starting to find himself glued to every time he came downstairs to find the cook doing his morning stretches in the living room.

"When you do _that_ it still seems impossible to injure yourself when twisting or bending…" Zoro pointed out.

"You try twisting _and_ bending to get out of the way of a fast-moving object in time _while_ dragging a two hundred pound clump of moss with you, then tell me if you hurt yourself or not." Sanji pointed out before gracefully getting to his feet in one swift motion.

"I'm not two hundred pounds you know… I'm _nearly_ two hundred pounds and most of it is muscle." Zoro tried to defend himself.

"I only weigh a little over half of that! It's still going to hurt!" Sanji shot back.

"Yeah, yeah…" Zoro grumbled as he got to his feet and the two began their rounds. _'If this is going to be a daily class now, I have no clue how I'm going to handle being around him so much…'_ Zoro thought to himself.

The two boys finished their rounds and spent the rest of the period talking and playing some athletic games like two-man soccer, two-man basketball, and two-man races. They went back to class when the bell rang and got situated in their regular seats, everyone else thought that they had skipped history last period and had just come back for the heck of it.

~!~

It was the next day and Zoro had walked with Sanji to school again. He _actually_ walked _beside_ the swordsman this time instead of on the other side of the road. Zoro fought hard to keep the smile off his face at the cook's actions compared to yesterday. They were running a little bit late and had to jog instead of just walk, but that didn't bother the swordsman.

They got to the school and into the classroom just in time as the bell rang. Everyone sat in their seats as their teacher came into the classroom to start the lesson. Zoro couldn't keep his eyes off the cook except for when the cook _almost_ caught him staring a few times. This kept up until lunch time. The swordsman opened his mouth to ask Sanji to lunch only to be interrupted.

"Sanji~! Wanna come to lunch with us?" Ace waved from the door with Luffy hanging on his shoulders.

"Sure!" Sanji replied as he pulled the bento out of his desk and ran off to the D. Brothers.

Zoro stared after the blonde wide eyed. He wasn't expecting Ace to ask, nor was he expecting the cook to accept so fast. It was bad enough that the swordsman estimated that it would take him _at least_ three minutes to get Sanji to go to lunch with him. The swordsman grabbed his bento and stalked up to the roof as calmly as he could, but apparently not calm enough when Usopp stared at him questioningly.

"What's wrong with you?" The sniper asked.

"Nothing…" Zoro grumbled as he sat down beside the door and unwrapped his bento. He made sure _not_ to sit in front of the door again.

"You know that I know that that is a lie… now what's really wrong?" Usopp scooted closer to the swordsman to urge him to speak.

"It's nothing that you would understand." Zoro shot back before digging into the bento hungrily.

"Something's up between you and Sanji, huh?" Usopp sat back to watch the swordsman's expression turn rather guilty rather fast.

"Nothing's up…" Zoro steeled his emotions and continued to eat.

"Is it because he went to lunch with Ace instead of you? Or because he's spending _more_ time with Ace when he _could_ be spending that time with you?" Usopp inquired with a knowing smirk.

Zoro's eyebrow twitched when Usopp stated his thoughts, making the sniper raise an eyebrow questioningly. "So what if that's it…" The swordsman snarled back, finally giving in.

"Oh, so you're jealous." Usopp smiled knowingly.

"Am not!" Zoro snapped back before finishing his handmade bento.

"Do you want some advice, or are you just going to waltz in blindly… I can give you some tips." Usopp asked as he scooted a bit away from the swordsman for safety.

"Oh fuck off Usopp, I can handle myself…" Zoro grumbled angrily as he leaned back and tried to meditate.

"Ooh, so you're going to try him out huh?" Usopp grinned before quickly running back into the school.

"Darn liar…" Zoro's face flushed at the man's comment earlier and he tried _very_ hard to concentrate on meditating instead of that comment and the damn shit cook's face.

~!~

Zoro woke up from a small nap that he had taken during his last class only to find Usopp, Franky, Nami, Robin, Luffy, Ace, and the damn shit cook huddled near his desk. They were talking excitedly among one another in hushed tones. He noticed that Ace stood a bit _too_ close to Sanji, but tried to ignore it saying that it was his imagination in his mind. All of them looked to Zoro while he kept one eye cracked open ever so slightly so it looked like he was still asleep.

"What are we going to tell _him_?" Nami asked quietly. "He probably kept sleeping through our whole conversation so he hasn't heard a thing."

"No." Sanji stared blatantly at the swordsman. "He's awake."

"What are you talking about? He's _obviously_ still sleeping." Ace rolled his eyes to emphasize Sanji's misunderstanding with a slight grin.

"He woke up a few minutes ago… I doubt he overheard anything, but he's awake and pretending to still be asleep." Sanji stated matter-of-factly.

"_How_ can you even tell?" Ace grumbled irritatedly.

"His breathing is no longer as labored as it is when he sleeps, his eye is open ever-so-slightly, and if you address him with an insult, he'll be up your ass in a second." Sanji pointed out as he strode up beside the swordsman. "Won't you?"

"Shut up… perverted shit cook." Zoro mumbled.

"So… you _have_ to be watching his every action to get that." Nami pointed out.

"Nope. When you sleep in the same room and live in the same house, you tend to breathe nasty marimo air in and you end up learning a few things. Like how he shaves his legs some months." Sanji expertly dodged the angry swipe of Zoro's elbow.

"I DO NOT!" Zoro roared with a beet red face as he lunged for Sanji over the desks.

"Then how do you explain how you own a woman's razor that is always wet after your baths and _always_ sits on the corner of the tub with green hair stuck to it? Huh?" Sanji hit a soft spot and smirked as Zoro's eyes widened in shock and his face flared the color of a tomato.

All of their friends laughed and giggled while trying to hide it. Ace just outright laughed as loud as he could, causing Zoro's face to turn a darker shade of red. The swordsman turned his anger to the source of it all and glared as hard as he could. Sanji stood there smirking evilly to himself with a little bit of triumph. This ticked Zoro off even more to the point that he was beginning to think of ways to murder the blonde as messily as possible.

"You're _so_ dead!" Zoro growled in a low tone so that only Sanji could hear him.

The smirk on Sanji's face left the moment Zoro barreled some of the desks over to get to the blonde. Everyone else backed up against the wall as far as they could to get away from the dark aura emanating from the swordsman. Sanji concentrated on his every attack and the placement of the now disturbed desks that littered most of the room. Luckily, their little group was the only bit of human life nearby right now.

Sanji took off out the door with Zoro hard on his heels. The cook used his momentum and flexibility to whip around corners and over obstacles. It was during one of his insanely fast turns that he collided in something hard. He smacked his forehead and nose off of the thing before hitting the ground hard on his back. Zoro went to turn the corner and noticed the cook lying on the floor with blood running from his nose and a hand clamped over it, trying to stop the bleeding.

The swordsman stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed the person that Sanji had collided with. It was one of the top delinquents in the school, Enel.

~!~

Sanji rolled to the side and curled into a ball due to the pain. His back had snapped like a wet towel at the sudden stop of motion, making it throb with pain. Blood oozed from his nose and onto one of his good shirts, ruining the fabric for good. There would be no more wearing this shirt with the stains in it now. It was history. Enel turned and faced the cook with a wicked smile gracing his features.

"Watch where you're going… or there won't be a next time." Enel walked away without striking out at the blonde, which surprised Zoro.

The cook groaned in pain as his ribs started to hurt too. His sudden noise had brought Zoro out of his thoughts and walking up to the blonde. Sanji peered up at him with an expression that _clearly_ said _"Oh shit!" _Zoro bent over and pulled the cook effortlessly off the floor.

"I'm not so low to attack someone who's already injured." Was all the swordsman said before casually walking back to the classroom... or… where he _thought_ was the right way back.

Sanji's hand snagged on his shirt and faced him the other way with a light gurgling noise that sounded somewhat like "You're going the wrong way idiot." Zoro grumbled a light response before stalking off in the direction the cook faced him.

It took Sanji and Zoro a while to get back to the classroom because Zoro tried turning at every corner even though the cook had told him to go straight. When they entered the room, everyone noticed the blood dripping down the blonde's shirt and started glaring at the swordsman angrily. Nami, Robin, and Luffy ran up to the cook and started asking him a ton of questions while Franky crossed his arms and Usopp's legs started to shake. Ace started sending him dangerous glares with an evil aura around him.

"Zoro, you're such a dick!" Ace sneered from his spot. "Why the hell would you _hurt_ Sanji?"

"Ace, stop…" Sanji choked out when he finally managed to stop some of the bleeding. "It wasn't Zoro… I kind of ran right into someone's back."

"Whose back did you run into? You look like you were either punched by Zoro or hit a wall face first." Franky spoke up.

"The idiot ran into _Enel's_ back." Zoro grumbled almost _too_ quietly.

"Wait, Enel… you mean _that_ Enel? The one who skips all his classes and still passes because he threatens the school board?" Ace paled, Franky looked dumbfounded, Luffy's eyes widened, Nami's jaw dropped, and Robin stayed stoic as Usopp asked about which Enel Zoro _might_ have been talking about.

"Yes… that Enel…" Zoro's expression stayed blank as he leaned against one of the still standing desks.

Sanji was forced into a desk as everyone started poking and prodding at him. They were worried and were just trying to do the right thing, but _fuck_ did it _hurt_! It hurt so much that he wasn't even wiggling _or_ fawning over Nami and Robin right now. The world would blur every here and there and the cook _knew_ that he was exhausted _as well_ as badly injured. All he wanted to do was go home, get a warm blanket, and sit in front of some sort of fire. He didn't even feel like taking a bath right now, it hurt too much and he was too tired to even think about it.

"So… I guess we'll be postponing _that_ for a few days until Sanji feels better…" Nami looked at the blonde while he was spacing out a bit.

"Yeah… that would be better for us all. How does Friday sound?" Robin asked.

There was a chorus of "Good" that came from everyone in the room except Zoro, who didn't have a clue on what that was about, and Sanji, who felt so drugged out right now he didn't give a shit on what was said. Everyone slowly dispersed from the room and Nami instructed Zoro how to take care of Sanji before she left.

'_Why the hell do I have to take care of his shitty ass after what he said?'_ Zoro growled angrily in his mind before getting a good look at Sanji. _'Okay… I see what she had meant by him not being able to get home without supervision.'_

Sanji lolled his head forward until it hit his chest. He didn't have the strength left to keep it up for a long amount of time. The cook could feel Zoro's hard stare as he half-lidded his eyes to ease the small headache he was starting to get. It was _definitely_ time to get home.

"Oi, shit cook… still alive?" Zoro grumbled when he noticed Sanji's lack of awareness.

"…mhmm, fuck off…." Sanji gave a half-hearted reply as he felt his shoulders slump more and feel heavy.

"Time to get you home…" Zoro mumbled almost inaudibly as he bent down and pulled one of Sanji's arms over his shoulder.

The cook leaned heavily against him and growled at the sudden pressure in his feet. _'He must be worn out on top of the slight blood loss…'_ Zoro thought inwardly before hauling the cook's ass out of the chair and down the halls. They only got lost for about thirty minutes before Zoro found the exit. Sanji had albeit given up on even walking and hung limply against the swordsman's shoulder. It took Zoro a moment of debate in his mind before he effortlessly threw Sanji over his shoulder and carried him home.

~!~

Zeff and Koshiro stood by the door with angry expressions. They had seen him carrying Sanji down the street and rushed outside to make sure that what they saw was really true. After noticing the blood, Koshiro had gone back inside to find the first aid kit while Zeff stared Zoro down like a hawk. It wasn't unusual for the older blonde chef to get angry at the little things Zoro did to his little "eggplant."

"He had a nose bleed and passed out." Zoro informed the older man before walking into the house without a break in his pace.

"How did he get that nose bleed?" Zeff raised an accusing eyebrow at the swordsman.

"It wasn't me this time… he ran into someone's back while running through the supposedly empty halls." Zoro shrugged Sanji off his shoulder and into his arms before making the trip to his bedroom. The cook fell limply against his chest as he carried him bridal-style to the bedroom.

"Mhmm, okay… I'll ask _him_ about it when he wakes back up." Zeff walked away as Zoro stared at the man's retreating form with a look of being accused, which was true.

Zoro rolled his eyes in annoyance before pulling the door to their bedroom open. He laid Sanji in the cook's own bed like he had done a few times before, and slipped his blood soaked jacket off. It took him only a few seconds of rummaging through the cook's drawers to find sweatpants and a loose t-shirt. Koshiro dropped by long enough to hand the swordsman a first aid kit and some damp towels before disappearing down the steps.

Sanji grumbled and wiggled slightly as he slept. The moving was starting to annoy Zoro as it made it harder to wipe the cook down and change his clothes. It took the swordsman some patience and firmly pinning the cook's limbs to the bed to finally get him cleaned up. He pulled the covers over him and stared for a few seconds before changing and sliding into his own bed for some early sleep.

~!~

Zoro woke up at his usual time only to find the cook still in bed. He was now sprawled across the covers while hanging half way off the side of the bed. The swordsman sighed before dragging himself out from under the covers and over to the cook's bed. Sanji looked up at him with half lidded eyes like he was still trying to wake up.

"What the hell are you doing, cook?" Zoro looked down on the blonde with a pitiful expression.

"Shut… the fuck… up…" Sanji mumbled as he tried to twist his body back into a sitting position only to get more twisted around himself.

"Is this what you do every morning?" Zoro kneeled down to get more level with the cook's eye sight so that he wasn't looking down so far to try and look in the blonde's eye.

"No… not _every_… day…" Sanji finally managed to wiggle out of his awkward knot and flop to the floor with a thud before sitting up correctly. "I'm just tired…"

Zoro tried to hold in his laughter at the sorry sight before him as the cook hit the floor. He held it in long enough for the cook to speak before a snorting sound escaped. Sanji glared at him half-heartedly before wobbling to his feet and walking slouched over to the kitchen. The swordsman followed him out just to see what he would try to cook up while he was still half asleep.

"What's for breakfast?" Zoro asked teasingly with a small chuckle.

"Uhgg… pancakes? Bacon..? How about bacon pancakes?" Sanji looked over at Zoro questioningly for an answer to his thought up recipe.

"Hmm… sounds good enough if you don't burn it." Zoro grumbled before teasing the cook again. "Though anything you make is shitty so it doesn't really matter."

"Shut the fuck up asshole." Sanji snapped before digging through the fridge and grabbing milk, eggs, butter and bacon.

Zoro watched as Sanji whipped the flour, salt, and baking powder out of the cupboards as well as the pans. The cook reached for the knives and Zoro lifted an eyebrow while smirking. It took the blonde not three seconds to shift into his "cooking mode" and start slicing the raw bacon into perfect diced pieces. He cut the pieces in a swift, fluid motion, making Zoro's eyes grow a few millimeters.

Without looking away from his slicing, Sanji flicked on one of the burners on medium heat. He threw a medium sized pan onto the burner with a teaspoon of oil to simmer while he finished cutting the bacon into pieces. Zoro watched him start sifting the flour, salt, and baking powder together into a bowl before throwing the bacon onto the heated skillet. While frying the bacon quickly, Sanji mixed in the milk, butter, and egg into his dry mix and whipped it until smooth.

It took the cook a whole three seconds to pull the three-quarter cooked bacon off the skillet and mixed into the batter before he replaced the medium skillet with a smaller skillet and added a teaspoon of oil to the new skillet. Whipping the ingredients together, Sanji thoroughly and evenly mixed in the bacon before pouring enough into the skillet to cover the bottom thinly.

"Why are you waiting for your food here? Go to the damn table and stop stalking me." Sanji turned his attention to the swordsman who still stood in the doorway.

"This is _way_ more interesting though." Zoro smirked as the cook's cheeks flushed slightly.

"Just fucking get out." Sanji muttered before turning back around and flipping the pancake effortlessly.

Zoro stood there and watched Sanji cook until his plate with one pancake was shoved into his chest. "There'll be seconds later…" Sanji grumbled before pouring another pile of batter into the pan.

"What if I want my seconds now?" Zoro quirked an eyebrow as he began to dig into his delicious syrupy breakfast while still waiting in the kitchen.

"You're going to have to fucking wait shit head!" Sanji snapped as he flipped the second pancake.

"And what if I don't want to wait?" Zoro asked as he shoved the last bit of pancake in his mouth.

"Too fucking bad!" Sanji growled before throwing the next pancake on Zoro's plate with another drizzle of syrup.

Zoro blinked in surprise at the cook's contradicting words and actions. He heard the other two males in the house clambering down the steps and raced to the table so that Zeff wouldn't accuse him of harassing Sanji after beating the shit out of him, even if it wasn't him this time. As expected, Zeff glared menacingly at Zoro again.

"I'd advise not staring at the clump of moss for too long unless you want to get infected too." Sanji came around the corner with two more plates of pancakes. He was probably using two skillets by now to feed them all.

"I won't get fucking infected eggplant. _You're_ the one who spends more time around him then I do." Zeff pointed out as Sanji plopped the plate down in front of him.

"I've already taken precautionary measures. Like taking a bath every time I'm touched or avoiding close contact at all times. _You_ don't even have any Marimo-away… so don't even fucking start about me getting some damn marimo infection." Sanji retorted before sliding back into the kitchen gracefully.

"I'm not infectious…" Zoro mumbled around a mouthful of pancake.

"Yes you are. You're just not infectious in the way you think." Koshiro spoke up.

There was a loud clang that came from the kitchen and everyone at the table turned to look at the kitchen door. A quiet "Shit!" was heard before another clang. Zoro sat there with some food hanging out of his mouth in mid-chew. Sanji poked his head back around the door.

"I'm good. It was nothing." Sanji grumbled before noticing the food practically falling out of Zoro's mouth. "Uncouth bastard! Don't fucking sit there with your shitty mouth hanging open so that fucking food falls out! Learn some god damn table manners fucking marimo!"

~!~

They got to school almost ten minutes late because Sanji insisted on beating Zoro up for wasting food by letting it fall out of his mouth. For being late, the teacher made them stand in the hallway together. Everyone in the classroom laughed at their punishment before the teacher silenced them.

"Why the fuck do _I_ have to fucking stand out _here_? It's not _my_ fucking fault that we were fucking late." Sanji growled under his breath.

"_You_ were the one who attacked me." Zoro pointed out before sliding down the wall to sit instead of stand.

"That's because you wasted food!" Sanji pointed a finger in Zoro's face accusingly before starting to dig through his pockets.

"What are you doing?" Zoro raised an eyebrow questioningly as Sanji kept digging around.

"Looking for my cigs… I can't remember if I grabbed them or not." Sanji's searching started speeding up as he frantically searched. "Shit…"

"You can't even smoke them right now, so why the hell does it matter?" Zoro let his eye lids droop so that he could get some rest.

"It's still a fucking problem! I need them for lunch!" Sanji snarled grumpily.

"You'll be fine for _one_ fucking day. Hell, not even a day… just a few hours. It's not like it'll kill you." Zoro grumbled sleepily.

"I'm a fucking addict, okay? I _need_ my damn cigarettes!" Sanji snorted just before the classroom door flung open and the teacher called them back in.

~!~

Sanji fidgeted in his seat all morning. By lunch, he was starting to tap his fingers or toe just to take his mind off of the lack of nicotine that he would have to suffer through. Zoro watched him jitter more and more as the hours until lunch passed. It usually wasn't this bad on a regular day. He would only start staring at the clock every few minutes normally, but he was starting to go nuts.

The bell rang and Sanji was the first to shoot out of his seat and down the hall to the cafeteria. Zoro followed leisurely at his own pace. His mind still trying to think up of why Sanji was acting this jittery already. Then it hit him.

"_The stupid shit cook hasn't smoked all morning… has he?"_ Zoro thought to himself before it dawned on him that Sanji hadn't smoked since lunch time yesterday.

Zoro waltzed into the cafeteria to see Sanji already getting his food and sitting in a far corner. He kept tapping his fingers on the tray when he sat down and started staring at the clock as though the time would just speed up. It was getting bad. The swordsman stood in line until he got his tray and headed to the far table.

"Stop tapping shit. It's getting annoying." Zoro looked down at the cook who shot him a glare as he sat down.

"Shut the fuck up! I haven't had a damn cigarette all fucking day!" Sanji snapped irritatedly as he kept right on tapping.

"Then find something else to do other than tap shit." Zoro snorted as Sanji shot him another glare but reluctantly stopped and focused on eating.

Ace somehow managed to see the two of them and came rushing over with a wide grin and two trays filled with food. Zoro fought hard not to roll his eyes at the eldest D. Brother when he sat down beside Sanji. Sanji barely noticed Ace for stuffing his mouth with food like Luffy. The older male must have noticed Sanji's frantic distraction because he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a light and placed it on the table between Sanji and himself.

"I'll let you have a few if Zoro promises to come to the club tomorrow night." Ace didn't look up from his food as he told Sanji the conditions.

"He doesn't have to promise… I'll just drag his ass with me…" Sanji started to try and quickly grab the pack off of the table only to get his hands slapped by Ace.

"No. He _has_ to promise." Ace smirked evilly as he took a bite from a double cheeseburger.

Zoro looked over at the cook to see him practically pleading with his eyes. "I promise." Ace obviously didn't expect Zoro to _actually promise_ because his bite of cheeseburger fell back down to the tray with a light thud. Sanji grabbed the pack of cigarettes so fast that Zoro thought that Ace was about to lose a tray of food at the same time.

"Oi, Zoro, slide over slightly…" Sanji grumbled as he pulled a cigarette out of the pack under the table.

"Why should I?" Zoro raised his eyebrow at the use of his real name.

"I want a fucking smoke _now_! If you don't fucking move, so god help me your fucking green balls will being in your god damn throat in three seconds! Get it?" Sanji growled threateningly.

"I get it… calm down." Zoro scooted over slightly like asked in order not to lose his manhood so early in life.

Sanji pushed and prodded him a little more into the position he wanted before sinking down and pressing his back against the swordsman's side. The blonde slouched down in the seat until everyone in the cafeteria couldn't see him. He flicked the lighter a few times shakily until the cigarette lit up and he sucked in a breath of nicotine.

"Ahh… thanks Ace…" Sanji slid down against the swordsman's side some more as he started to relax.

"No problem~ thought you might need them from the way you were starting to freak out like a nervous little girl." Ace mumbled around a mouthful of _another_ double cheeseburger.

"Shut the fuck up Ace!" Sanji snapped before taking in another lungful of nicotine.

Zoro was starting to smell the tart, smokey smell of Sanji's cigarettes after a few seconds. Other students that had smelled the cook's cigarette smoke were looking around a bit but decided to leave it be when they thought of what might await them at the end of the smoke trail. Ace would chuckle every time Sanji would reposition Zoro so that he was blocking everyone else's view.

~!~

Sanji got through the rest of the school day without any more cigarettes than the three he smoked during lunch. At the end of the day, he was starting to watch the seconds tick down like normal instead of the tapping he was doing earlier. After class ended, Zoro grabbed his bag and Sanji's when the cook shot out of the room anxiously while forgetting about his bag and the swordsman.

"Hey! Shit cook! Sit your ass down!" Zoro called after the blonde only to see him stop dead in his tracks and turn around, blinking in confusion.

"What is it Zoro?" Sanji asked with a light tilt of his head. Zoro shivered at the use of his name, but not in a good way. The only time Sanji would use his real name was when he wanted a favor.

"You left your damn bag. I'm not carrying it all the way home for you either." Zoro growled as he came up to the cook and threw Sanji's bag at him.

"Oh, thanks…" Sanji mumbled before turning back towards the road home and started speed walking nervously to the house.

"_That was weird."_ Zoro thought to himself as he half-jogged just to keep up.

Sanji bursted through the doors and headed straight into the kitchen to look for his cigarettes. Zoro followed him in and picked his bag up off the floor as he began digging around frantically for the missing pack. He pushed past the swordsman and went running up into their bedroom and started pulling the drawers out as far as they would go and rooting around in them frantically.

"Zoro…" Sanji screeched nervously. "I can't find them…"

"Where do you usually keep them?" Zoro tried to stay as calm as possible while the cook was starting to freak out even more.

"Either in my drawers or on the bed… bed!" Sanji started flicking through his covers until he came up with a pack.

"Fucking bastards! There's only one left…" Sanji slipped the single cigarette out and grabbed his lighter feverishly. He lit up the cigarette and rushed down the steps.

"Where are you going?" Zoro raised an eyebrow questioningly as the cook grabbed some money out of his drawer and slid on his coat.

"To the store to get more before I go crazy." Sanji nearly made it out the door before his wrist was forcefully yanked back into the house.

"I'm coming with you so that Zeff doesn't chew me out when you get home half dead." Zoro pulled him back into the door fully before letting go to grab his coat and slide it on.

"I can take care of myself!" Sanji barked back angrily before whisking back out the door with Zoro hot on his heels. The swordsman struggled to slide his coat on in time _and_ lock the doors while keeping up with the cook's long strides.

Sanji walked into the downtown area with confidence. His stride never broke as a few gang members walked out of alleys to see who was on their turf. They followed the duo at a distance in order to watch their every move. It took the cook a whole three minutes to find a small drugstore that was tucked away into a corner and waltz in like he owned the place.

"Hey~ got any more cigarettes?" Sanji started talking before he even made it to the counter. Zoro hung back and walked around aimlessly while watching the small gathering group of people near the door.

"We might still have a load, why?" Someone with a long square looking nose looked over the counter from digging around in the display case.

"How much would you consider a load? I need at least two to three dozen packs to get me through another two, three weeks." Sanji smiled lightly at the man when the other recognized who had walked into the store.

"Ah, Sanji… we have your usual amount in the back. We saved it up from our last shipment. Lucci said that you should be back in here any day now." The cashier started ringing up what Zoro took as Sanji's _usual_ amount.

"Thanks Kaku… I hadn't noticed I was running out, otherwise I would have been here a few days ago." Sanji leaned up against the counter casually as he rummaged through his hastily grabbed money.

"I was wondering why you were here on a weekday." Kaku pointed out before bringing up Sanji's total. "Two hundred fourteen and twenty cents."

"Here… thanks again Kaku… I'll take them in a box since I am devoid of transportation right now." Sanji declared as he handed over the money.

"I'll message Fukuro to put your order in boxes then…" Kaku typed something into a walkie-talkie before turning his attention back to Sanji and dropping his voice to a whisper. "So who's that green puff you brought with you?"

"That's my father's friend's son… adoptive son I believe. I'm not quite sure what moss-covered rock he came out from under though." Sanji sighed and began to nervously tap his fingers again.

"So… his hair… is it dyed or just… natural?" Kaku leaned against the counter to get a better look at the second male to enter the store this evening.

"It's apparently natural. His leg hair is the same god damn color. Even though he shaves it all off in the shower." Sanji smirked as he remembered his little secret that he told everyone the other day to get the swordsman to respond.

"Damn… that's kind of hot." Kaku eyed Zoro up hungrily and the swordsman awkwardly tried to shuffle behind some isles and disappear.

"Fuck. Stop going gay on me. I don't want to come home to find you two having sex in my bedroom, so don't even think about it." Sanji made a disgusted face at the thought. "Don't you have Lucci anyway?"

"Lucci won't listen to anything I have concerning my sexuality… so no, I don't have Lucci." Kaku sighed and straightened up. "How are you going to explain the reason why I know your order exactly and what you like?"

"He followed me… so I have nothing to say other than telling him to keep his mouth shut and not tell Zeff. You know what would happen if that old fart knew I came down here regularly." Sanji stared out the door blankly before perking up at the sound of the back door opening and a shuffling sound.

"Sanji~ your cigarettes!" Fukuro called out with an odd laugh that tended to make Sanji want to kick him in the head all the time.

"Here!" Sanji turned towards the isles that Zoro had disappeared in before taking a deep breath. "Dumbass marimo! Get you fucking ass over here and carry this damn box since you fucking followed me here!"

Kaku winced slightly at the outpour of cuss words before watching the green haired man dart out of the isle and over to Sanji in seconds. The swordsman took the box of cigarettes carefully and gratefully. It took Kaku only a few seconds to even guess what Sanji might have said to the man to turn him into a willing slave. Sanji and Zoro left the small drugstore with an enthusiastic wave from the blonde and headed on home.


	6. Chapter 6

"So why did that cashier know you so well?" Zoro asked after the duo had gotten on home and stuffed the box of cigarettes under Sanji's bed.

"Old friends…" Sanji lit up the first cigarette of the pack with a sigh of relief.

"He was staring at me a little oddly... know anything about that?" Zoro pried to see if Sanji had caught on to the look in the cashier's eyes.

"Oh... Kaku is... well... he's kind of... how should I put this?" Sanji tried to look everywhere but the swordsman's eyes. "Kaku's gay."

"Oh... that's why... was he...? Uh..." Zoro's cheeks turned a dark shade of red. "Checking me out..."

"Yeah." Sanji stated bluntly before swiftly getting off his bed and to the door in seconds. "What do you want for supper?"

"I don't care... food." Zoro grumbled halfheartedly.

"Whatever... I'll make something Italian." Sanji mumbled half to himself as he slid out the door and down the steps.

~!~

Zoro was awoken from a nap Friday evening by his phone. It was ringing by his head like an angry bee. The swordsman groggily grabbed and answered to the unknown number with a small huff. There was a crackling noise before someone's voice shot through loud and clear.

"Zoro! Where the hell are you? Is Sanji there with you?" Ace's voice ripped through the speaker as a stream of screaming words.

"I don't know where the shit cook is but I'm at home." Zoro grumbled. "Why?"

"The party! Get Sanji and get to the party pronto! We've been waiting for a while!" Ace's voice was prominent but Zoro could hear the yelling and screaming of a club in the background.

"Alright..." Zoro hung up on Ace before the raven could damage his hearing anymore.

"Shit cook! Ace called!" Zoro yelled as loudly as he could.

"I was coming to wake your shitty ass up anyway." Sanji shouldered the door to the bedroom open and held up two different suits. "Pick one..."

"I don't want to wear that shitty thing. I'm going in what I'm wearing." Zoro declared before sliding off the bed and jamming his phone into his pocket.

"You are _not_ showing up at a club wearing _that_ while walking beside _me_! Just pick a fucking suit and put the damn thing on now." Sanji snapped angrily.

Zoro stiffened at the tone the blonde had used with him. It was the same one he used the day he had told Zoro that he would rip his balls off. The swordsman quickly grabbed a dark grey pinstriped suit and rushed into the bathroom to put it on. After only a minute, Zoro was back out of the bathroom.

"Try to do something with your god damn hair!" Sanji strode up to the swordsman and starting messing with his short hair fussily.

"It's fine." Zoro grumbled as he tried to bat Sanji's hand away.

"No it's not! It looks like a bird shitted in your hair after making a fucking nest out of it." Sanji shifted his weight to one leg and placed his hands on his hips with a pout. "Wait here a second."

Sanji disappeared into a bathroom for a few seconds before coming back out with a little jar. He screwed the cap off and dipped three of his fingers in until they were coated with the crème. Zoro's nose scrunched up in disgust as the cook ran his fingers through the swordsman's short hair and spiked it. After around five minutes of constant messing, Sanji finally deemed Zoro's hair presentable and shoved him out the door.

~!~

Ace was the first one to greet them the moment Sanji stepped out of the car. Zoro grumbled in irritation at the obvious signs that Ace had been drinking more than two cups of straight rum. Sanji smiled and accepted the raven's hug like it was normal and he wasn't drunk. Luffy came out a few seconds later and yanked all three of them back into the hubbub of the club.

"Hey Blondie~! Have shomething to drink! Tab'sh on me tonight!" Ace slurred happily.

"Then I'll enjoy myself!" Sanji laughed with just as much happiness that Ace had before ordering himself a bottle of Grover la Reserve.

Zoro listened as the name of the obviously French wine slid off the cook's tongue effortlessly. His thoughts wandered to what else the blonde could do with his tongue before he shook himself back into reality. Ace seemed to stare at Sanji with the same look in his eyes. It bothered the swordsman in ways that it shouldn't have.

~!~

It had been a few hours since they had come to the club. Sanji had drank enough to sway on his feet when he tried to stand still. Zoro had been here long enough for the music to start giving him a headache. Ace had drank enough to be completely smashed and hanging all over Sanji. Luffy was passed out on the table after having cleaned the bar out of hot wings and had drank a sip or two of Sanji's wine.

Ace barely sauntered up to the swordsman. "Zoro~ danche wit' me~!"

"Go home Ace, you're drunk." Zoro grumbled at the raven who could barely stand before him.

"No 'm not! 'M jusht warmin' up..." Ace gave Zoro the best glare he could before turning around and going back out to the dance floor. He wobbled out until he found what he was looking for... Sanji.

"Blondie~ Zoro won't danche wit' meh..." Ace whined as he wrapped his arms around Sanji's waist and peeked a look back at Zoro to see the swordsman's reaction.

Zoro glared at the raven for a few seconds before trying to find anything else more interesting. He caught sight of Nami and Robin chatting away in front of the bar and quickly slid down in his seat so that he looked like he was sleeping. Nami had a way of trying to give him loans every time they were alone.

"Ace... go back to Luffy. He'sh probably lonely..." Sanji slurred and put a hand over his mouth as an embarrassed gesture.

Zoro peeked an eye open ever so slightly when he heard the cook slur. Sanji's face went red at the sound of his own voice running together. Ace started to laugh and pick on the blonde for being drunk until Sanji said something about him being smashed. Luffy made a gurgling noise and looked up at Zoro as if he had gotten a frog shoved down his throat with the ten pounds of hot wings.

The swordsman took that look as an "I want to go home" look and strode out to the dance floor casually. "Ace, Luffy said that he wants to go home." Zoro found the raven and the blonde in the same spot that they were in just moments before.

"Luffy can find hish own way home." Ace growled. "'M goin' to shtay wit' Blondie here."

Zoro grabbed ace by the back of his jeans, for the lack of a shirt, and dragged him to an empty area between their table and the dance floor. "Get... Luffy... and... get... your... ass... home... now..." Zoro growled out threateningly in a low voice.

Ace took to the warning quickly as he was at the register, out the door, and half way home with Luffy in around three minutes. Zoro snorted calmly as he tried to keep his mind off going after Ace and murdering him. Someone threw their arms around his neck from behind and the swordsman stiffened.

"Are we going home too?" Sanji whispered in his ear rather seductively and the swordsman tensed even more in an effort to hold himself back.

"...yeah..." Zoro mumbled before dislodging himself from Sanji and grabbing the small bag of extra cash and cigarettes that he had brought along and heading towards the door.

"What are we doing when we get home?" Sanji trotted up to the swordsman's rather long strides with ease.

"Going to bed... and... sleeping..." Zoro tried hard not to grind his teeth together as he spoke. The alcohol in his system wasn't doing any favors to the swordsman's control.

"Can't we have another drink or watch TV first?" Sanji asked innocently.

"I... guess..." Zoro mumbled out as he hopped into the driver's seat.

"Oi, what are you doing? I know damn well you _can't_ drive or we'll end up lost again." Sanji pouted as he put his hands on his hips.

That broke one of the strings of control Zoro had left and he shot out of the car in seconds. He grabbed Sanji's tie and pulled him close enough so that their breath intermingled. Zoro stared hard into the surprised blue eye in front of him but his control kept him from going any further. "Any objections?" The swordsman breathed out as calmly as possible.

"N-no..." Sanji stumbled slightly when Zoro let go of him and sat back down in the driver's seat.

Sanji hurried around the front of the car and hopped into the passenger's seat as fast as possible. He didn't want Zoro to get angry at him and _really_ didn't want that angry swordsman to hate him for a few days. Zoro stared out at the road ahead of him and didn't look at Sanji the whole ride home, even when the cook would give him directions back to the house because he turned at the wrong corner.

They got home without an accident and Zoro opened the door. Zeff and Koshiro left a note on the counter saying that they had gone out for drinks with a couple of Zeff's restaurant's chefs. _"Oh great, we're home alone and Sanji's drunk. I'm losing control on myself and he's at my disposal. How lovely."_ Zoro thought to himself as he plopped the note back down on the counter.

Sanji turned on the TV with the remote and headed into the kitchen to grab two glasses, a bottle of wine, and a bottle of Jack Daniels. Zoro watched the cook rummage around in the wine cabinet for a while before pulling out a bottle and grabbing his Jack Daniels from the fridge. It was probably the slight sway of Sanji's hips when he walked that held the swordsman's attention for so long. Or it was the way his legs seemed to get even _longer_ when he reached up to get two glasses.

Zoro shook his head to try and get rid of his wandering thoughts. That was just another symptom of losing his control little by little. It was bad enough that he had considered doing the cook against his will in the parking lot of the club. The swordsman took a few deep breaths before the cook pushed his shoulder slightly and headed for the couch.

"You coming or not?" Sanji looked over his shoulder at the swordsman as he put the glasses and bottles on the coffee table.

"Yeah..." Zoro mumbled before carefully sliding his coat and shoes off and dropping onto the soft couch.

Sanji plopped down beside him and started flipping through the channels. When he found nothing of interest, he got up and dug around through their DVD rack. Zoro caught sight of the cook as he swayed his hips back in forth like he usually does when he has to chose something. The swordsman stared for a while until mentally beating himself for losing another string of control by thinking of all the things he could do.

"Fuck, Sanji... just pick something already!" Zoro growled.

"I'm getting there! Just fucking wait!" Sanji kept digging through the movies until he found something that caught his interest. "How does Paranormal Activity sound?"

"Fine! Just put the damn thing in and sit down." Zoro mentally beat himself again for sounding a slight bit needy. This was going to be a _long_ two hours.

~!~

Every time something would slam shut or there would be noises, Sanji would jump slightly in his seat and lean towards Zoro. The swordsman's expression had went dark within the first forty five minutes of the movie. He was using every ounce of restraint he had left to keep himself from jumping the cook every time the blonde's shoulder would rub gently against his own. Near the ending, Sanji wrapped his arms around Zoro's stomach and nearly ploughed the man over trying to hide his face from the screen. That gesture seemed to snap what little control he had left, though he stayed right where he was.

The movie ended and the credits came on. Zoro let out a yawn and smirked as he leaned into the back of the couch. Sanji's next choice words were muffled by Zoro's back and the couch cushions. With a fling of limbs, Sanji pushed against the couch and bent nearly in half in an effort to pull himself from the suffocatingly small space.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Sanji growled after pulling himself free and panting to get some much needed air.

"No... just thought it would be fun to watch you struggle." Zoro laughed as Sanji stared at him incredulously at the words that just came from the swordsman's mouth.

"How do you call that fun? That'sh more like harasshhment!" Sanji covered him mouth as the slur came out more harshly than the one before. His few more cups of wine were starting to get to him.

"What's that? I couldn't understand you for the slur." Zoro teased with a smirk.

"Shut up bashtard!" Sanji slurred again and covered his mouth and blushed.

Zoro laughed and looked at the reddening blonde before him. Something about the way the red tone was on his pale skin seemed to tug at the swordsman's _"feral"_ side. Sanji glared at Zoro angrily before opening his mouth to speak again. The blonde never got to say the next sentence for Zoro pulling his tie forward and crashing his lips against the other forcefully.

Sanji stiffened slightly in surprise before relaxing into the gesture. The swordsman let out a low growl as he got a response from the blonde. They stayed like that for a while before having to part for air. Sanji panted against the swordsman's neck for a few seconds before Zoro forced another kiss, this time accidentally clashing their teeth together.

The swordsman pushed Sanji down flat onto the couch and hovered over the blonde. He parted and started to leave a trail of butterfly kisses down the cook's jaw line and throat before nipping lightly at his adam's apple. Sanji swallowed nervously, making Zoro nip a little bit harder, but not enough to leave marks. A shiver passed over the blonde, making Zoro trail his kisses down to the blonde's collarbone.

Another growl rumbled through the swordsman's chest when Sanji arched his back against Zoro's chest. He caught the cook's lips in another heated kiss before sliding his tongue playfully against the blonde's lower lip, not expecting entrance. When Sanji complied, it caught the swordsman off guard and he faltered for a few seconds before continuing. The kiss had just gotten more heated when a shoe was whipped past the swordsman's head threateningly.

"What the fuck are you two doing?" Zeff growled dangerously from the living room door.

Zoro pulled away from the cook as fast as he could. Sanji just laid there stunned before glancing up at Zeff but keeping his mouth shut. Koshiro wiggled past Zeff, saw Zoro still hovered over the blonde, and took off to his bedroom as fast as possible. "Keep it down... okay?" Koshiro mumbled with his head down as he raced up the steps. Zeff stared after him angrily.

"I even brought Patty and Carne to come see you, Sanji." Zeff sighed before turning to speak to someone standing somewhere in the dining room behind him. "I guess you guys can go home after you say hi unless you want to join in too."

Zoro blinked in confusion as the older chef hurried up the stairs as fast as his outdated wooden leg would carry him. Two guys came into view from the door to the living room. Sanji looked up again and waved casually, but didn't dare to say anything.

"I didn't know you leaned this way Sanji~! You should have told someone earlier so that we could find someone a bit more... feminine." One of the guys with a rope tied around his forehead and a pink scarf around his neck talked first.

"Fuck off Patty, I _don't_ lean that way." Sanji growled threateningly, signaling their time to leave the premises.

"Then what the fuck are you doing?" The other, shorter male asked.

"Having fun..." Sanji shrugged them off before completely ignoring the two males in the doorway.

Patty and Carne took that as a signal to get the fuck out now or else. Sanji had a way without words and just actions that can say a whole lot more than what he spouts off normally. Zoro watched them leave at the cook's silent treatment and laughed slightly. The blonde looked up at him with his one eye looking rather puppy-ish.

~!~

Sanji woke up in Zoro's bed, snuggled against the swordsman's chest. His memory came back in a flash.

_Sanji looked up to Zoro with pleading eyes only to get a hand in his face. Zoro laughed slightly before getting off the couch and cleaning their glasses after putting the wine and Jack Daniels away. He had somehow managed to get some control back when Zeff and Koshiro came back from the bar with some guests. It took him just a few minutes to clean the glasses and put away the alcohol._

_The cook slid his arms around Zoro's waist as he cleaned the glasses. "...continue?" Sanji asked a simple question, but it was enough to tear at the swordsman's control again. "No... we're going to bed since it's late. We can spar in the indoor gym tomorrow if you want." Zoro answered back and pried himself from the blonde's grip to put the glasses away._

_Sanji followed him up the steps after turning the TV off. When they got up there, Sanji refused to sleep in his own bed and wouldn't let go of the swordsman. They ended up falling asleep with Sanji nestled comfortably in the swordsman's chest, somehow fitting on the twin sized bed comfortably._

Sanji gently pushed himself off the swordsman's chest and sat up. He rubbed at his head where a headache had started due to the hangover from drinking _way_ too much. Zoro shifted in his sleep but didn't wake up. The cook slid himself out from under the covers and towards his dresser. His alarm clock didn't ever go off, but the time was the same as always. Three thirty.

Digging through his drawers, he found a pair of pull on sweats and a lose T-shirt. Sanji's mind kept replaying last night's events and he kept asking himself what he would tell Zoro when the swordsman woke up. He had known that Zoro definitely wasn't drunk, so did that mean that the swordsman like him that way and should he just ask Zoro out just to see where _this_ went or should he just give him the silent treatment. The blonde lost himself deep in thought while he cooked. There was only slight differences in the way he moved about the kitchen, but not enough that someone who didn't watch him constantly would have noticed.

Zoro woke up with his alarm at five and noticed the lack of heat near his chest. He remembered drifting off to sleep with something warm pressed against his chest, but couldn't remember what. Then it hit him. Sanji was that warm thing and he was no longer in the room. The swordsman thought about last night and decided that it would be better just to tell the cook to forget about it. Though that might send a bad impression.

Sanji was in the middle of making some grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast when he noticed the telltale thump of the swordsman's feet hitting the wooden stairs. He flipped off the heat to the burner and washed his hands before striding out of the kitchen to talk to Zoro about last night.

"Zoro (Sanji) I have something to tell you..." They both said in unison. Sanji blinked as he was stunned by the swordsman asking and Zoro blinked as he was stunned by the cook asking.

"Go first..." Sanji urged.

"Uh, okay... about last night..." Zoro scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Yes... we need to, Uh... talk... about that." Sanji fidgeted nervously as well.

"Yeah... Uh, when... when do you want to talk... about _that_." Zoro asked in a hushed tone.

"Soon, but not here... Zeff and Koshiro... they... they saw... but I don't want them to know... that we... were...uh... about this..." Sanji tried hard not to stutter as he spoke as softly as he could.

Both males were blushing by this point and there was no turning back now. Sanji went back into the kitchen and started to continue cooking the grilled cheese for everyone. During the time that he was cooking, he remembered the invitation to spar in the indoor gym that the swordsman was otherwise oblivious to. A smirk graced his lips when he thought of all the ways he could make Zoro have to bend and twist to avoid his own flexible attacks. Sparring sounded like a _great_ idea at the moment.

"Hey Zoro!" Sanji yelled out from the kitchen.

"What?" Zoro stumbled into the kitchen when he tripped over his own feet.

"I'll take up that offer from last night." Sanji smirked at the confused look on the swordsman's face before remembrance hit him square in the face.

"Are you sure you want to get your ass handed to you this early in the morning?" Zoro smirked playfully.

"What are you talking about? I'll be the one handing it out." Sanji growled challengingly as he flipped one of the grilled cheese sandwiches.

Zoro leaned against the door frame and continued to throw insults to lighten up the mood a bit. Sanji kept handing them back and soon they had the atmosphere feeling a more comfortable. Zeff came barreling down the stairs at his own pace and fumbled his way to the table sleepily. The blonde made a quick effort to speed up the cooking process on the tomato soup and get Zeff a bowl and sandwich almost instantly.

Sanji rushed his way back into the kitchen and Zoro laughed at his quick attempt to please his adoptive father. The blonde kicked his shin hard for making fun of him. He turned the heat down on the tomato soup and left it to simmer as he continued making more grilled cheese sandwiches. When Zeff called for another, Sanji made sure to give him the warmest one there. Koshiro came down the steps not long after and the blonde made a feeble attempt to please him too.

"Ah, Sanji..." Koshiro called after the blonde's retreating form. "Did you have fun last night?"

Zoro and Sanji stood just inside the doorway to the kitchen staring at each other with wide eyes and red faces. Luckily, they were just out of sight, but that didn't help much. "W-What are you talking about?" Sanji winced at the stutter he made as he tried to play dumb. The swordsman's eyes got even wider at the obvious stutter.

"He's talking about what you and that asparagus were doing on the couch last night." Zeff stated bluntly.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Was the damn marimo trying to rape me in my sleep or something?" Sanji tried to sound dumb and angry, but it came out sounding nervous and aloof.

"Something like that..." Koshiro mumbled loud enough for them to hear.

Zoro stood there smashed against the inner frame while Sanji stood just out of view from their foster parents. The look in the swordsman's eyes was the same as Sanji's. They hadn't realized that Zoro was in the kitchen with Sanji and they weren't going to find out.

~!~

The duo had gone the whole morning without incident. Koshiro continued to complain on how long it was taking Zoro to wake up, but the swordsman didn't dare come walking out of the kitchen like it was nothing. Suspicion would grow and soon the two adoptive parents would be throwing accusations around and teasing them to no end. It was already evident that they had been suspecting something and had been continuously harassing Sanji about it all morning.

"Sanji, get me some coffee, dark." Zeff called from the table and the blonde rushed to get his order out in a few moments.

Just as the blonde was about to rush the cup out to his adoptive father, he tripped over his own feet and came crashing into Zoro's chest, effectively spilling hot coffee all over himself and Zoro. Zoro held a hand over his mouth to keep himself from yelling out and spewing a string of unkind words at the culprit. Sanji screamed in pain while stripping himself of his shirt and apron.

"Eggplant, you okay?" Zeff yelled in worriedly from the table. The sound of his chair scraping the tile brought Sanji back to the green-haired male in front of him, his eyes going wide.

"It's nothing... I'm good. I just spilled the hot coffee on my toes and fingers. No biggie..." Sanji struggled to get to his feet on the slick tiles.

There was the sound of a chair leg scraping again and Sanji calmed down a bit at the telltale sound of Zeff sitting back down. The spilt coffee made the kitchen tiles slick and hot. Sanji slid around a bit when he tried to stand up and almost ended up back in Zoro's lap. The swordsman struggled to get himself off the floor without making too much noise and alerting Zeff and Koshiro to his presence in the kitchen.

Sanji slid his soaked shirt and apron back on as fast as he could and grabbed another cup and put coffee in it. Zoro looked at the blonde with wide eyes from across the coffee puddle. The puddle spanned the whole kitchen width and Sanji had a look in his eyes like he was going to attempt crossing it with a full cup of coffee. The swordsman stared at the blonde with wide eyes as Sanji put a foot onto the puddle and carefully crossed it with a smirk when he didn't fall again.

Zeff got his coffee hot, accompanied by a coffee stained blonde. He looked up and down Sanji with an eyebrow raised questioningly. Sanji rushed back into the kitchen when Koshiro kindly asked for a second grilled cheese sandwich. Forgetting about the spilt coffee, Sanji rushed towards the stove top.

His feet slid on the slick tiles and sent him lurching forward into the hot stove. Zoro had seen him come into the kitchen at break neck speed and was going to warn him but it was already too late by the time the swordsman turned around. Sanji started falling forward right into the hot stove, but Zoro sidestepped.

Sanji did a face plant into the swordsman's chest. Zoro made sure to grip the oven's handlebars so that he wouldn't fall backwards onto the burner and burn himself. It took Sanji a moment to realize that he was no longer tumbling into the hot burner and was no longer in risk of getting burnt. He peered up at the swordsman as his bangs started to slide out of his one eye.

Zoro's eyes widened as the layer of bangs slowly started to fall down, probably because the cook forgot to use hairspray, and reveal his hidden eye. Sanji blinked up at the swordsman until realization hit him. The blonde shoved off of Zoro harshly, put a hand up to cover what his fray no longer covered, and dashed out of the kitchen as fast as he could. Zeff watched as the blonde high-tailed it towards his bedroom and noticed the flustered look in his eyes and the way he covered his one eye.

"Koshiro... if you want a second sandwich, you might want to get one yourself before the asparagus eats them all." Zeff scooted his chair back and stood up.

"Why? Zoro's still in bed." Koshiro blinked at the older man like he was saying that fantasy was real or that every woman's breasts were fake.

"He's been in the kitchen since earlier this morning." Zeff explained before plopping himself down in front of the TV and flicking on the cooking channel.

Koshiro silently stood and went to get himself another sandwich only to find Zoro mopping coffee off of the floor. The swordsman looked up at him with wide eyes before sighing and going back to his mopping. Meanwhile, Sanji was struggling to get his hair to lay back over his eye stiffly. It kept fighting the hairspray and styling products that the cook was dousing it with.

~!~

Zoro trudged up the stairs when the blonde hadn't come back down after a whole hour. The swordsman looked around in their bedroom a bit before going into the connected bathroom. When the search for the blonde came up empty, Zoro stood in the middle of the room and thought about all the places that Sanji could have went. Relying purely on instinct, Zoro thought only about the cook and walked out side before walking in a seemingly straight line towards the area he expected Sanji to be. His feet brought him back to his bedroom and standing in front of the closet.

"Sanji... I know you're in there. Come on out already." Zoro leaned his forehead up against the closet door so that he could hear any movement. There was a light shuffling noise and a quiet sniffle.

"Va te faire foutre marimo (Fuck off marimo)." Sanji's voice came in a language not quite English, but he recognized his nickname.

"Sanji, don't start speaking French. You know I can't speak French." Zoro pleaded through the door.

"Va t'en..." Sanji mumbled. (Go away...)

"If you don't start speaking English I'll start speaking Japanese and we both know that we don't want that." Zoro threatened at the lack of understandable words.

"Then go the fuck away..." Sanji's voice lacked it usual enthusiasm and hype that it usually had when he cussed off the swordsman.

"Tell me what's wrong... I'll listen..." Zoro turned and locked the bedroom door before sliding his back down the closet door, expecting to be there a while.

"I don't want to talk about it..." Sanji grumbled with a muffled volume. It sounded as though he had pressed his face into his knees before speaking.

"It can't be that bad..." Zoro started before he was abruptly cut off.

"It's fucking horrible! You wouldn't understand!" Sanji practically screamed into his knees and Zoro heard the faint cracking in his voice.

"I might... just let me in, then we'll talk. Okay?" Zoro tried to plead again.

There was a light clicking noise as the closet door unlocked and Zoro stood up quickly. He wasn't expecting the cook to let him in so fast, nor was he expecting the cook to even agree to talk. Zoro pulled open the door to find Sanji on the floor with his arms wrapped around his knees and his face was smashed between the top of his knees and his chest, just like the swordsman had expected him to be. The cook's shoulders shook slightly but he didn't make a noise.

"Sanji..." Zoro let his voice sound saddened and worried at the way the cook was acting.

"..." Sanji didn't make a sound or say a word as Zoro relocked the closet door and sat down beside the blonde comfortingly.

"You still wanna talk or are you just going to sit there and pout all day?" Zoro whispered soothingly to try and urge the blonde to speak up.

"...pout..." Sanji mumbled into his legs.

"You spoke~!" Zoro teased.

"Shut up." Sanji shot back without his usual bite.

"So... what _is_ wrong?" Zoro prodded lightly.

"... mghi... ffgghin... gruhli... ehgibrghs..." Sanji grumbled incoherently into his legs.

"Uh... say that without all the extra sounds and syllables." Zoro looked at Sanji like he had spit out an eel when the cook had first grumbled his answer out into his legs.

"My fucking..." Sanji started out nice and loud before it dissipated down into barely a whisper. "... curly eyebrows..."

Zoro had trouble catching the ending, but he managed to hear it somehow. "What's wrong with them?" The swordsman asked innocently.

"You saw..." Sanji growled, his voice sounding like dripping poison.

"Oh!" Zoro thought back to the kitchen incident and it hit him like a truck. Sanji's eyebrows faced the same way... "There's nothing wrong with that... the one just didn't feel like being like the other one."

"You're making it sound worse..." Sanji struggled to keep from bawling at the thought of every one of his friends finding out and making fun of him for it. It was bad enough that he let Zoro kiss him last night, but this added would just make him a _freak_.

"Sorry... it just seems as though the one wanted to be _exactly_ like the other one." Zoro tried to fix his mix-up only to see Sanji's back move in a silent sob. The swordsman started to freak out as he thought, _"What have I done?! "_

"It's stupid... isn't it?" Sanji struggled to get his sentence out between the silent sobs that raked the blonde's thin body.

"No, no, no..." Zoro slung his arm around the cook's back and grabbed his shoulder lightly with reassurance and for comfort. "It's not stupid at all... it's kind of... cute, really."

"It's not cute." Sanji mumbled stiffly.

"Sure it is... you just can't see it that way because you've had it all your life." Zoro explained.

He pulled the blonde into a lopsided hug and felt the cook's sudden jolts when he sobbed silently. Zoro dug his nose into the top of Sanji's hair comfortingly and just held him. Sanji cried for a while before slowly drifting off to sleep because of exhaustion from this morning.

"G'night sleepyhead..." Zoro muttered into the golden locks before drifting off to sleep himself.


	7. Chapter 7

Sanji awoke to the swordsman leaning against him and a dull ache in his back from sleeping in a sitting position. Zoro snored comfortably against the top of his head and the blonde just decided to give up. He was still going to have to find a way to ask Zoro about the incident after the party at the club and properly ask him if they had a _thing_ going on now or was it all just for fun.

The thought of it all being just for fun and that nothing was going to turn out from it scared Sanji. He had been getting a light fluttery feeling in his stomach every time he was in close proximity to the swordsman, but it wasn't a _bad_ feeling. In fact, Sanji had grown a little attached to the fluttery feeling he got. There was a little flutter of hope every time Zoro did something like this or said something that could have an ulterior meaning behind it.

"...mhmm... another sandwich... Sanji~..." Zoro mumbled in his sleep, making the blonde's cheeks turn a light rose.

"Damn marimo... don't eat in your sleep..." Sanji muttered as he ran a hand lightly through Zoro's short hair.

"...I dun wanna..." Zoro grumbled as he moved to sit up instead of using the cook as a leaning post.

"It's disturbing..." Sanji stretched out his back. "... to know that all you do is eat, sleep, and eat while you sleep."

"So I'm not allowed to enjoy extra meals once in a while?" Zoro quirked an eyebrow as Sanji stretched a bit further.

"Extra meals can be bad for you... they add fat, calories, and even extra nutrients that your body will just flush out in the long run." Sanji chided.

"So if I'm not allowed to have extra meals... then what _am_ I allowed to have." Zoro asked teasingly.

"Anything that doesn't give extra calories or nutrients. Like mints or bubble gum..." Sanji explained.

"What about another person?" Zoro pushed the cook down flat on his back against the blonde's will.

"It depends on _how_ you plan to _eat_ that person..." Sanji raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"And if I told you... _Just like this_?" Zoro hovered over the blonde as he bent down and dragged his teeth across Sanji's neck teasingly.

Sanji stiffened and shivered at the same time from the close contact. He heard the telltale thump of Zeff's footsteps somewhere outside the bedroom door. There was a moment of debate within his mind if he should just go along with what Zoro was doing or make a "strategic retreat." His mind was practically made up for him when the closet door was kicked down right on top of them.

"Get the fuck out of the closet and get out of the house!" Zeff growled lowly and dangerously.

Sanji wasn't one hundred percent sure who the older chef was talking to. He blinked a few times in confusion and surprise. Zoro heaved a low sigh that was barely audible. Zeff, on the other hand, looked as though he was about to kill someone if nobody moved in the next few seconds. Koshiro hung back by the bedroom door and didn't dare to even take a step into the bedroom.

"Get out, both of you." Zeff glared down at them.

"Why the hell am I being kicked out of _my own house_?" Zoro asked rather calmly while Sanji stayed stiff and shocked right where he was.

"It's for your own good. Now get out." Zeff stood aside to let the duo out of the closet and literally _kicked_ them out when they were reluctant to go anywhere.

They were each given a bag of clothing, food, and money. There were about a dozen packs of cigarettes in Sanji's and the blonde wondered just _how_ long Zeff intended to kick them out for. It seemed as though they were being thrown out as a pair, but Zoro wasn't one hundred percent sure on that. He was at about a seventy five percent right now.

~!~

"So why did you kick them out again?" Koshiro looked up from a specially prepared shrimp platter.

"Sanji has issues choosing what's best for himself. Usually someone else ends up choosing for him. If he plans on staying with Zoro no matter what, then they'll need the life experience to go along with it. Now... if Sanji can managed to put up with Zoro and Zoro can manage to put up with Sanji under the pressure of owning a home, getting a job, still going to school, and working out hours, rent, and all the other _fun_ things of life, then I'll approve of them getting married and such. I've done this a few other times to the little eggplant and he always ends up staying at a friends house within the first twelve hours." Zeff explained fully.

"Ah, I understand now. This should help Zoro a bit too with his choice making and tolerance level. Though, throwing them out on the street might have been a bit harsh when you didn't give them a warning." Koshiro stared at his portion of the platter thoughtfully.

"Life doesn't give you warnings... it's a bitch and everybody knows it." Zeff pointed out before both older males dug into the platter.

~!~

"God damn shitty old man!" Sanji cursed as he kicked a tree trunk.

Sanji had led Zoro to the park so that they could have somewhere to sit and discuss what they were going to do next. Zoro didn't have the slightest idea on what exactly was going on, but he was starting to assume. For Sanji, this had been the tenth time being kicked out of his own home by the old man. Every time he was forced out with whatever girl chose to fancy him at the time and ended up getting stuck at Brook's house every time. Poor Brook had to deal with his tantrums towards the situation every time too.

"So why exactly were we kicked out of the house?" Zoro asked as he took a seat at a picnic bench.

"Something stupid about life lessons and shit." Sanji pulled out a cigarette and lit it up to calm his nerves. "He does this every fucking time I get comfortable within the same god damn house as that shitty old man! Why the fuck do I have to go through this every fucking time?" Sanji started spouting rapid fire complaints to try and let off some steam.

"Wait... this isn't your first time getting kicked out?" Zoro looked over at the cook with a raised eyebrow.

"No... this is about the tenth or so time..." Sanji huffed as he sat down across from Zoro on the picnic bench. Their bags laid strewn across the rotting wood surface.

"How the hell do you get kicked out so much?" Zoro laughed at the blonde.

"Fuck off shitty marimo! I don't do a fucking thing to deserve it either!" Sanji growled back sharply.

"Okay, okay... so what are we going to do?" Zoro let the laughter subside and pushed into the more serious part of their little problem.

"I don't know... stay at someone's house, rent a place... I don't fucking know, okay?" Sanji ran a hand through his golden locks. He was in need of a shower soon too.

"We could always ask Chopper. He has a guest room." Zoro watched as Sanji's eyes went wide and the blonde had issues staying in his seat.

"Hell no! I'm not fucking going back to that damn place! It's fucking messed up there!" Sanji barked out angrily.

"He's not home three quarters of the time and I'm sure that if I asked him he wouldn't assault you with needles again or anything. It's at least a place to stay that _has_ a shower." Zoro pointed out.

"It's not that... he'll jump me in my sleep and take my blood or something!" Sanji hissed back.

"Then I'll sleep closer to the door." Zoro stated. He really didn't want to have to find a job so that he could stay in some crappy apartment until their foster fathers decided to let them back into the house. "Come on... it'll just be like having a little brother or nephew who isn't there all the time run around and play doctor. He doesn't even remember he's a doctor half the time."

"But-"

"It can't be that bad Sanji, just think about it for a moment. Would you rather live somewhere where you only have to pay for food, or would you rather live in a place where you have to pay for bills, rent, food, water, electricity, or anything else you might want like cable. At least it means that only _one_ of us _has_ to get a job." Zoro cut the blonde off and made it easier to understand.

"Well... fine... I guess..." Sanji mumbled before lying his forehead on the table with an exhausted manner. The last two days had been hell on his brain and he desperately needed the sleep.

"It's not so bad now, is it?" Zoro ruffled the blonde's hair by standing up and leaning on the table before sitting back down. He dug his phone out of his pocket before setting it on the table.

"What are you doing?" Sanji asked when he noticed Zoro start to dial someone's number.

"Calling Chopper to tell him that we're coming over for a few days until things settle down at home. So, our story is that we had fought a bit and ended up knocking over a few things that made Koshiro and Zeff angry at us. After our own fight, we had a fight with them over the things that had been broken. They kicked us out for a few days to a few weeks in retaliation for breaking these _very expensive_ things. Alright?" Zoro explained.

"Why not just tell him that we were kicked out for no reason. We shouldn't have to lie to some small kid, should we?" Sanji looked at the swordsman like he had a giant spider on his head.

"If we tell Chopper the truth, he'll break down the house door and demand that we be brought back into the house. Then he'd probably tie our fathers down and interrogate them on why they kicked us out in the first place. You catch my drift?" Zoro quirked an eyebrow at the blonde questioningly.

"Yeah, yeah... I get it now." Sanji grumbled before digging through his bag to see if Zeff had the decency to pack his phone and phone charger as well.

~!~

Zoro stood in front of the doctor's house and rummaged around inside a bush right beside the door. Sanji kept glancing around to make sure that nobody was coming and that the cops wouldn't be called for a breaking and entering or for suspicious people hanging around. The swordsman was currently looking for a small manilla packet that held the key to the door. It was one of Chopper's habits to keep spares and he had informed Zoro to where they all were in case the swordsman ever needed a place to hide, rest, or happened to injure himself and couldn't wait outside with prying eyes.

"Are you sure that he hid the key in _that_ bush?" Sanji asked. He was itching for a cigarette but a small drizzle had started and he could no longer light the limp cigarette that was squished between his teeth.

"I'm positive... this is the only bush that I ever tripped over." Zoro explained in his own logic that made no sense to Sanji.

"Then wouldn't it be in the _other_ bush so that you wouldn't trip over it again?" Sanji questioned in an obviously irritated tone.

"Oh... good point..." The swordsman switched bushes and managed to come up with the key in ten seconds of switching bushes. Sanji sighed with relief as the door opened and he could practically feel the heat radiating out the door.

They entered the house and sat their bags down on the kitchen floor. Sanji immediately dug through his bag at a mile a minute until he came up with his favorite pair of pajamas. Sanji held them to his chest protectively and rummaged around for a towel. To his surprise, he found his favorite towel as well. It was unlike Zeff to pack his favorite things when he was kicked out unless the older man expected him to be out longer than a day or two, which was usually the case when he was kicked out for no reason.

"I'm going to go take a quick shower." Sanji immediately found his shampoo and conditioner as well as his other hair products. _"No wonder the damn bags were so fucking heavy!"_ Sanji thought to himself.

"Alright... should I start on some supper or do you want to do it?" Zoro looked over to the blonde.

"I'll do it... just... keep Chopper away from the bathroom and kitchen if he comes home before I'm done. I'm not really up to getting a shitty check up tonight." Sanji huffed before taking off in long strides towards where he expected the bathroom to be with a look at the fire plan Chopper had taped beside the door.

Zoro watched the blonde go. He ended up paying more attention to the subtle sway of his hips that what he was doing. The swordsman dug through his bag to see what Koshiro might have packed him for the expected long-term stay away from home. It took Zoro about three minutes to dig through the whole bag. There was the sound of water starting in the bathroom and Zoro ended up pacing around the kitchen nervously.

"_What the hell am I supposed to do? I can guess that it was all Zeff's idea to send us out together and _make_ us live together one way or another. There's no way that Sanji has understood this yet or he would have already said something or started to act skittish around me."_ Zoro thought for a minute before going back to his inner debate. _"Wait, wait, wait... Sanji isn't acting skittish at all. Even though I was doing _that_ right before we were kicked out of the house. Maybe he forgot within the mass of turmoil or something. That would be good... or... maybe not. Do I _want_ him to like me or it this just all fun and games? What the hell?!"_

Zoro had gotten so lost within his own thoughts that he hadn't heard the cook call his name. Nor had he seen the blonde walk up to him as he paced back in forth, deep in thought. Sanji sighed in irritation before kicking the swordsman's shin for good measure. The sudden pain brought Zoro out of his thoughts, and fast.

"Ouch! What the hell was that for shit cook?" Zoro growled angrily.

"I called your name but you didn't respond, so I did the next best thing." Sanji explained before digging around in the fridge. "The shower is all yours now, marimo."

"Uh... okay... I'll take a shower later." Zoro watched as Sanji bent over to check in the lower drawers to see what was there. He noticed the way the blonde's back bended and just how _perfect_ his ass looked in those pants. The swordsman got the sudden urge to want to touch, but held himself back. "So what's for supper?"

"I don't know yet... I'm thinking. You were right when you said he's barely home. The poor kid's barely got anything besides cereal, lunch meat, cheese, bread, about a pint of milk, and a few heat up suppers. I wonder what Zeff sent us along with." Sanji whistled at the emptiness of the cabinets and fridge before digging through the food bag that they had brought.

He dug out a couple frozen foods, some fresh veggies and meat, and some spices. It was enough that he could make quite a few basic meals out of, but nothing he would have usually had. Zeff did do a good enough job to pack him his own hand crafted knife set that had been in the bottom of one of the moving boxes since he had arrived at Zoro's. Sanji lifted them out and pulled one out of it's holder expertly before twisting it in circles and simple slicing motions and putting it back.

"I've never seen those before..." Zoro hovered just over his shoulder. The sudden voice had startled him out of his little world.

"That's because they've been in the bottom of a moving box until just a few hours or so ago. I've had them for most of my life... so they're not that new to me." Sanji explained before he gathered up the bag of food and started to put them away properly, leaving out a few ingredients and spices to use in the meal for supper.

"Oh... so they're special... like my katana?" Zoro asked as he peered over the cook's shoulder again to watch what he was doing.

"Yeah..." Sanji trailed off as the conversation ended up out of his comfort zone. He was able to tell the swordsman a whole lot more than anyone else in his life, but he just wasn't able to tell him about the bulk of his childhood.

"So... what _is_ for supper?" Zoro leaned against the blonde's shoulder as he tried to sneak a peak at the potatoes that Sanji was peeling.

"If you want to know that badly, then help." Sanji barked back before handing Zoro one of his precious knives and digging around in the pots and pans for a nice sized pot.

"Fine by me, but your potatoes are going to end up deformed and funky..." Zoro shrugged it off as he started to peel away at the potatoes, peeling away more than he should have.

"Damn it marimo! Not like that!" Sanji rushed over to him as he screamed his head off in exasperation. "Here... I'll show you."

Sanji gently plucked the knife from the swordsman's calloused hand and showed him how to peel the potato correctly. When Zoro had attempted and failed, Sanji showed him how to peel a potato step by step, which took up a good amount of time. Zoro had finally gotten the hang of peeling potatoes when Chopper walked through the door carrying about two times his weight in medical supplies.

"Zoro... I only have one bed in the guest bedroom, so you guys will have to compromise and figure something out. There is the couch though, but nights that I'm here it'll be taken... like tonight unless I'm put on call again." Chopper explained around the supplies.

Sanji tensed visibly and Zoro had guessed it was on the fact of sleeping together. He was about to offer himself up to the floor when he noticed the container of needles that Sanji seemed to be staring at like it was a plastic box filled with poisonous demons. The swordsman heaved a sigh of relief and astonishment at just what Sanji had been so uptight about.

"We'll figure something out." Zoro replied. "We're making supper right now, so put down your stuff and get washed up."

Sanji waited for Chopper to disappear into the bathroom before deciding to pick on the swordsman. "Look at momma go!" Sanji chuckled lightly.

"Shut up! If you don't tell him what to do he'll end up with his feet tied to his nose." Zoro's face turned a light pink at the suggestion of him being a mother.

"I didn't know you cared so much. I thought that you were manlier than that." Sanji stuck out his tongue playfully and watched the swordsman's face turn redder and redder. "I also didn't know that you took the role of doting mother when it came to kids~"

"I don't!" Zoro barked back defensively.

"Aw~ Now you're getting angwy~" Sanji teased.

Zoro turned his attention back to mutilating the potatoes. He noticed the cook smirking to himself at the swordsman's flushed face. For good measure, Zoro purposefully hacked away a good chunk of potato with the peel when the blonde looked over to see his progress. The horrified look on Sanji's face was utterly priceless, so the swordsman hacked away another chunk.

"Stop! What the fuck are you doing? The potato didn't do anything to deserve abuse from your shitty peeling job!" Sanji lunged for the potato and knife to save the vegetable from more mutilation.

"It's not my fault, the knife just slipped." Zoro held his hands above his head as far as he could to get the utensil away from the blonde cook.

"The knife doesn't just _slip_! Give me the damn potato before I _take_ it from you by force." Sanji snarled.

"No way... you're going to have to pry it from my cold... dead... hands..." Zoro drew out the last three words challengingly.

"Have it your way." Sanji's eyes glinted challengingly before he lunged at the swordsman and practically climbed up him until he could grab for the potato. Zoro had slid the knife onto the island so that the cook wouldn't get hurt while he tried to get the potato away. Chopper had come out of the bathroom after washing up to see Sanji three quarters of the way up Zoro's chest and reaching for a mutilated potato that the swordsman had somehow managed to keep away from him.

"What are you doing~!" Chopper yelled out worriedly.

The sudden extra voice startled the two of them and Sanji leaned too much weight forward. He ended up falling onto Zoro's head. His chest slumped against the swordsman's face and his legs dangled dangerously away from a solid surface. Zoro had somehow managed to catch him under his butt and hold him up at the thighs so that he wouldn't slide down too far and end up tipping their awkward balance too much to one side. Chopper stood in the kitchen door with his mouth agape with amazement on how they hadn't fallen over yet. Considering Zoro was being used as a solid object.

"Chopper, buddy, don't yell when you're in the same room as someone else." Zoro scolded as he held the fidgeting blonde against his shoulder.

"Okay... but what _are_ you two doing right now?" Chopper crossed his arms in a child-like manner of defiance.

"We're play fighting... er... something like that." Sanji stumbled over his own words as he silently reached for the potato again.

Zoro felt the cook's slight shift of weight and stretched his arm further away. Chopper noticed Sanji trying desperately to reach for the mutilated potato and instantly realized why the cook had been climbing Zoro when he walked into the kitchen. Sanji waved his hand around wildly, trying to get the poor potato, and managed to brush his fingers up against it. The blonde smirked triumphantly and leaned further into Zoro until he could get his pointer finger, middle finger, and thumb wrapped around the one misshapen end.

"So... how long until supper is ready?" Chopper fidgeted nervously while watching Sanji intently.

"Not long..." Zoro growled lowly as Sanji's long fingers wrapped around the vegetable.

"Ten minutes if this dumb ass gives me the fucking potato!" Sanji snarled out as he managed to get a firm hold on the potato.

"Alright... call me when it's ready. I'll be in the clinic making up some new antidotes and medicines." Chopper practically skipped out of the kitchen at the thought of a home cooked meal.

Zoro smirked devilishly as the young teen took off to his office. He knew most of Chopper's habits, especially how the young doctor tended to lose track of time when he worked. The thought of messing around with Sanji's sexuality made his stomach flutter nauseatingly. It was _definitely_ time for some payback.

"Chopper's gone now..." Zoro stated almost absentmindedly.

"I know that dick head, now give me the fucking potato!" Sanji pulled at the potato with half of his strength, hoping for the vegetable to come loose somehow.

"Why should I?" Zoro teased. The blonde glared down at him only to see the playful and devilish look that graced the swordsman's features.

Sanji stiffened slightly at that look. It sent a small chill down his spine but he forced himself not to shiver. Zoro tilted on their perfect balance just enough to send them to the floor together. There was a light squeak noise that slipped past the blonde's mouth and Zoro sat there with a passive look before bursting out laughing.

"What the hell's so god damn funny dickhead?" Sanji yelled angrily.

"Y-your s-s-s-squeak!" Zoro had issues getting the words out for laughing maniacally.

"So what?" Sanji shot back, his face turning red with embarrassment.

"It... it was so... so... so..." Zoro couldn't manage to get the last word out for laughing.

"It was what? Stupid? Hilarious? Fucked up? So the fuck what! I don't give a shit!" Sanji growled angrily.

"No... it was... cute~" Zoro giggled between breaths.

"Cute? What the fuck? It wasn't cute like some la-" Sanji began to fume angrily before he had Zoro's lips smashed against his own.

The blonde tensed at the sudden contact, but didn't push away. Zoro inched closer as he found more and more interest in the cook's mouth. Sanji barely responded, but he _had_ responded _without_ being drunk. Their few seconds of kissing felt like an eternity for both of them when Zoro had to pull away to catch his breath.

Sanji sat there rather blankly with his mouth parted ever-so-slightly. His cheeks were slightly pink, but it wasn't from the embarrassment of before. This time it was from his strange affection towards the swordsman. The blonde held his breath for a second when Zoro shifted in his sitting position, but was soon pressed back into the tiles by another kiss. Their kiss was more active and needy than the first one. It sent a shiver down the blonde's spine.

~!~

Zoro had been so distracted with shutting the cook up for once when he kissed him that he didn't do much. It wasn't until the second kiss that he realized what exactly had been going on. Sanji seemed to take it _extremely_ well, so Zoro pushed further. He licked at the blonde's bottom lip encouragingly until Sanji parted them enough for the swordsman to get better access. He plunged his tongue into Sanji's mouth playfully at first and then more feverishly after a quick breath of air.

Sanji growled somewhere deep in his throat from the contact that sent light shivers of pleasure through his body. The blonde had always been bisexual, but he seemed to chase skirts more than pants every day. He thought that girls were too delicate to hurt, so he secretly watched certain men that seemed to catch his eye. Zoro hadn't caught his eye at first.

The swordsman didn't hit home on his radar the moment they met. It was more gradual and over time as he began to watch Zoro more carefully for fear of getting tackled every five seconds. He had only began to catch Sanji's sexual attention just a couple of days ago when Zoro had pinned him to the counter threateningly while he was trying to get a glass of water for a headache. With the swordsman _that_ close to him, he had managed to pick out the small details in Zoro's face. Like how Zoro's face looked sharper and more dangerous up close than it did from further back. It was that sense of impending danger that had pulled the cook closer and closer to the swordsman. He had always been a sucker for bad-ass characters and Zoro pretty much fit the bill.

Sanji was whipped out of his own reminiscing and thoughts when there was a sharp tug at his belt. Within the few moments that he had gotten lost in his own mind, Sanji had been stripped of his shirt and the swordsman was tugging at his belt without unlatching it. _"At least the stupid marimo has some control."_ Sanji thought was blown out the door when the swordsman started to fumble with his buckle while nipping lightly along his collarbone.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Sanji spluttered out inelegantly.

"What?" Zoro's low baritone seemed to rumble against Sanji's neck challengingly.

"Wait, I'm not-" Sanji was cut off when the swordsman pushed his lips against the blonde's.

Zoro broke away for only a few seconds to speak. "I won't do anything, _yet_." He drew out the last word teasingly before taking Sanji's mouth into another breathtaking kiss.

Sanji groaned instinctively when Zoro broke the kiss for the last time. He licked his lips impulsively afterward as well. Zoro pulled him off the floor and against his chest when the cook just sat there dazed. For being forced upon for the second time tonight, Sanji was doing _exceptionally_ well right now. The swordsman had been expecting to be kicked or attacked right after he was done messing around and taking his time.

"Supper?" Zoro asked with a raised eyebrow as he handed the misshapen potato and discarded shirt to Sanji willingly.

"Yeah... supper..." Sanji muttered before pulling his shirt back on and getting to work on making the simple dish he had planned earlier.

~!~

It hadn't taken Sanji and Zoro _too_ long to get the pot of soup finished. He poured out three even bowls and there was some extra left in the pot. After calling Chopper, all three of them sat down at the table to eat. They shared a few stories back and forth during their random conversations about everything and anything.

"I'll clean up." Sanji offered as Chopper yawned sleepily. "You go to sleep so you can be up on time tomorrow morning."

He ushered the younger teen off to bed before plucking the empty dishes off the table and heading for the kitchen. Zoro had gone missing just after they had finished eating and hadn't come back for a while. Sanji whisked into the kitchen with long strides only to find the swordsman putting away the leftovers.

"So _this_ is where you disappeared to." Sanji huffed as he slid the dishes into the sink and ran a sink-full of soapy water.

"I got lost when I tried to come back from the bathroom." Zoro mumbled. "This is where I ended up."

Sanji sighed exhaustively. "How the hell do you have enough energy to run around for ten minutes aimlessly? I'm already done for and I barely moved from the seat."

"You're excusable." Zoro explained. "You've been injured quite a number of times this week and haven't gotten much rest from waking up early every morning. So I can understand why you're so tired compared to how I am right now."

"I still should have _something_ left in me." Sanji grumbled.

"You could be just exhausted from the stress that was put on you today. Starting from the time we were kicked out till now." Zoro pointed out.

"Yeah... that didn't help at all." Sanji nodded as he washed the last dirty dish. Zoro had come and helped by drying the dishes just to speed up the process a bit.

They finished putting away the dishes, wiping down the surfaces, and setting up a few things for breakfast tomorrow just as the clock hit ten o'clock. Sanji wiped at his eyes sleepily before walking to the bedroom. The way he swayed when he walked was amplified the more tired, drunk, or injured he got. It looked almost as if he was having issues staying on his feet. Zoro stalked after him quietly, watching him move along almost as if he wasn't even stepping on the carpet even though he swayed so much.

"So... where are you sleeping and where am I sleeping? You can have the be-" Zoro started to ask questions when they reached the bedroom door.

"The bed..." Sanji grumbled out sleepily before opening the door and face-planting himself onto the bed.

Zoro looked at the blonde as if he was screaming profanities at him in at least ten different languages. It wasn't usual for the blonde to ask _him_ to bed. Sanji hit the bed and growled deep in his throat from the amount of pressure that had been lifted when he laid down on the soft mattress. The swordsman shrugged off the thoughts that seemed to travel south before sliding onto the bed and pulling both himself and the cook under the covers.

Sanji sighed almost in relief as he was pulled into a warm embrace as well as under the covers. Zoro wrapped his arms around the cook's midsection and spooned him under the covers. He was warm and comfortable, so Sanji fell into a deep, comfortable sleep moments later. The swordsman took only a few minutes longer until he too fell asleep.

~!~

Chopper had gotten up later that night to get a glass of water and passed their open door to find them sleeping together. He thought nothing of it as he sleepily trudged his way into the bathroom. After coming back out and passing the room again only to find Zoro practically digging his nose into Sanji's hair, the younger teen nearly spit his drink out in surprise. Now he understood why they had come to his house _together_ instead of going their separate ways. When he thought about it, the whole thing had been obvious from the start. No matter which way you looked at it.


	8. Short Hiatus

I apologize for not being able to update like normal... or, in fact, at all. My laptop fried and the computer I am currently using will not take my USB, so I can't see what I had saved just before my poor baby died. T.T I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but Great Grand Line High Troubles will be going on a short hiatus until I can figure out how to make this work. T.T

BTW: My laptop had started to smoke and when taken to a computer place, they said that the hard drive had burned and was toast, literally. XD

PS: I hope to have something figured out within the year or I'M going to go nuts. T.T

Love you guys and thanks for all the support so far! ^.^

Kitty Face - (^.^) XD


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